!
I
The True 5tory
I'W
"^America
iEIbrid?eS. Brooks
Illustrated!
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.
~E 1-7(3
('h:ili.jL3.. Copyright No,
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
iUE MINUTE MEN OF THE UE VUl.L' 1 lU.N .
" He determine to die or be free."
.Ntt l""J^ •-''-'•
THE TRUE STORY OF
THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
TOLD FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
BY /
ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS
Author of
The Century Book for Young Americans, The True Story of George
Washington, The True Story of Abraham Liucohi, Historic Boys,
Historic Girls, The Story of the American Indian, The
Story of the American Sailor, etc., etc.
FULLY JLLUSTKATED
BOSTON
LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY
.^^7 3
/ ^7
Copyright, 1891,
BY
D. LoTHRop Company.
COPYKIGHT, 1897,
BY
LoTHROP Publishing Company.
Xorfajoot) 39rfBS :
Berwick & Smith. Norwood, Mass., I'.S.A.
PREFACE.
The story of the United States of America has already been told and re-told
for young Americans by competent writers, and yet there is room for another
re-telling. To avoid as far as possible the dreary array of dates and the duU
succession of events that may make up the history but do not tell the story — to
awaken an interest in motives as well as persons, in principles rather than in
battles, m the patriotism and manliness that make a people rather than in the
simply personal qualities that make the leader or the individual, is the aim of the
writer of this latest " Story." The future of the Republic depends on the up-
bringing of the boys and girls of to-day. Any new iight on the doings of the
boys and girls of America's past when they grew to manhood and womanhood
should be of service to the boys and girls of America's to-day and to-morrow.
The hope that this volume may help as such a light has inspired its author to
write as concisely and as simply as he is able the story of the great Republic's
origin, development and growth from the far-off days of Columbus the discoverer
to the nobler times of Washington the defender and Lincoln the savior of
America's liberties.
BosToi^, August, 1891- E. S. B.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE NEW WORLD THAT WAS OLD ........ 9
CHAPTER II.
COLUMBUS THE ADMIRAL I9
CHAPTER III.
THE NAMING OF AMERICA 26
CHAPTER IV.
SPAIN AND HER RIVALS .......... 29
CHAPTER V.
HOMES IN THE NEW WORLD ......... 37
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST COLONISTS .......... 47
CHAPTER VII.
HOW THEV LIVED IN COLONIAL DAYS 56
CHAPTER VIII.
FOES WITHOUT AND WITHIN ......... 64
CHAPTER IX.
WORKING TOWARD LIBERTY ......... 74
CHAPTER X.
" THE LAST STRAW ".........,. 84
CHAPTER XI.
THE FIRST BLOW FOR FREEDOM . 93
CHAPTER XII.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIO.N I OO
CHAPTER XIII.
THE MEN OF THE REVOLUTION ......... IO9
CHAPTER XIV.
STARTING OUT IN LIFE II9
CHAPTER XV.
"the AMERICANS" 130
CHAPTER XVI.
unsettled days . . . 141
CHAPTER XVII.
A WRESTLE WITH THIL OLD FOE .......... 152
CHAPTER XVIII.
STATE-MAKING . . . 161
CHAPTER XIX.
CITIZENS AND PARTIES .......... I70
CHAPTER XX.
CHANGING DAYS iSo
CHAPTER XXI.
THE SHADOW OF DISCORD .......... 1 89
CHAPTER XXII.
FOR UNION 202
CHAPTER XXIII.
A FIGHT FOR LIFE 213
CHAPTER XXIV.
A REUNITED NATION 223
CHAPTER XXV.
AFTER AN HUNDRED YEARS . . . 23 1
CHAPTER XXVI.
GROWING INTO GREATNESS 239
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Minute Men of the Revolution Fi
Christopher'Columbus .
A dream of Cathay
The Laurentian Rocks of the Adiron
dack region ....
*' When monstrous-toed Ijirds waded i
tlie Charles " .
An early American
The red Americans
A war chief of the Mound Builders
The " canoes with wings "
The landing of Columbus
The young Columbus
Amerigo Vespucci ....
De .Soto
In sight of Mexico ....
A Conquistadore ....
Coronado's march ....
Sir Francis Drake ....
Sir Walter Raleigh
" Elbowing off " .
James I. .....
Queen Elizabeth ....
Disputing for possession
Captain John Smith
Powhatan .....
Prince Charles ....
William Penu, the Younger .
A palisaded fort ....
Suspicious of Indians
Dutch windmill in old New York .
■3
14
IS
iS
19
20
21
2S
3^
?>Z
35
36
38
39
40
41
43
44
45
45
48
49
50
Settlers from Holland approaching New
Amsterdam ....
51
Cavalier and Puritan
53
La Salle
55
Longing for the old home
57
An old landmark ....
58
Going to school in 1700 .
59
The whirring spinning-wheel .
62
Stopping the post-rider .
62
In the chimney-corner .
63
The clearing
65
On the watch
65
" I would rather be carried out dead ! '
said Stuyvesant
66
Chaniplain and the Iroquois .
67
In treaty with the Iroquois .
69
" A witch "
7^
A fight with pirates
73
New York in 1690 ....
75
One of King James' advisers .
75
In the cabin of the Mayflower
76
One of the villagers
78
A lesson in liberty .
79
King James II
Si
In Leisler's times ....
82
The people and the Royal governor
83
A smuggler
85
Guarding the port ....
85
The right of search
86
The hated stamps ....
87
Preparing for " homespun " clothes
89
LItiT OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Unwelcome lodgers . . . .
A weak-kneed patriot and her sly cup of
tea .
Samuel Adams
Paul Revere's ride .
The bridge at Concord
The British are coming
" It rained rebels "
Ethan Allen .
" The rebels are fortifying Hunker Hill
General George Washington .
A " Continental " .
One of the French soldiers
Anthony Wayne ....
John Paul Jones ....
French's statue of the Minute Man
Dr. Benjamin Franklin .
John Adams prophesying " the gloriou
Fourth " .
The I.iberty Bell ....
In Marion's camp ....
The Boston Boys and General Gage
Threats of resistance to taxation .
Inkstand used in signing the Constitution
Alexander Hamilton
George Washington
The inauguration of President Wash
ington .....
George Rogers Clarke .
" Borrowing fire " in old days
" King Cotton " . . . .
The stage coach ....
Martha Washington
Daniel Boone ....
The new home in the Ohio country
Washington's home at Mount Vernon
Training recruits for war with France
John Adams .....
Thomas Jefferson ....
Washington'.s tomb at Mount Vernon
90
92
93
94
96
97
99
lOI
102
105
106
106
107
108
109
no
112
114
"5
118
120
121
125
129
•3'
•33
>3J
135
136
'37
141
142
'43
'45
146
The sale of Louisiana
The tailing flag ....
James Madison ....
Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnees .
The battle of Tippecanoe
Andrew Jackson ...
The ruined White House
Keeping the old flag afloat
Jackson's sharpshooters at New Orlean
Ambushed in the Indian country .
The Conastoga wagon .
The mail boat on the Ohio
An old-time Louisiana sugar mill .
James Monroe ....
Ashland, the home of Henry Clay.
Discussing the tariff in 182S .
A Western flat-boat
John Quincy Adams
De Witt Clinton ....
The railway coach of our grandfathers
When every man was his own cobbler
Washington Irving
James Fenimore Cooper
Daniel Webster ....
The traveling schoolmaster .
Andrew Jackson ....
Martin Van Buren ....
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
.^nti-renters, disguised as Indians, am
bushing the sheriff .
James K. Polk
At Buena Vista
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce
James Buchanan
Dinah Morris's certificat. of freedom
Among the sugar cane .
Great seal of the " Confederacy " .
147
150
'5'
'53
'54
'55
.56
157
159
160
162
■63
166
roS
'70
'73
'74
'75
'77
1-8
179
180
iSi
1S2
■S3
184
1 86
1S7
1 88
191
'93
195
'97
1 98
199
200
203
205
207
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Abraham Lincoln ....
Seal of the United .States
Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor
A Louisiana tiger ....
In the enlistment office .
Charge of the Union troops at Gettysburg
The turret of the Monitor
Working for the soldiers
The birthplace of Abraham Lincoln
Home again
Andrew Johnson ....
The Capitol of the United States .
Ulysses Simpson Grant .
Old French market, New Orleans .
209
Rutherford Birchard Hayes
228
211
The Art Gallery .
229
212
Machinery Hall
230
214
Sitka, the capital of Alaska
■^y-
215
" The new way to India "
^-Zl
g ^17
At the cotton loom
2J4
220
Ralph Waldo Emerson
235
221
William H. Prescott
236
222
Henry W. Longfellow
^37
223
Peter Cooper .
^38
224
James A. Garfield .
241
225
Chester A. Arthur .
242
226
Grover Cleveland .
243
227
Benjamin Harrison
244
THE STORY OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CHAPTER I.
THE NEW WORLD THAT WAS OLD.
ANY hundreds of years ago there Uved in ancient Greece
a certain wise man wliose name was Pythagoras. As a
boy he had been brought up beside the blue ^gean Sea.
_^ji. ,,, He learned to observe carefullj^ He became a traveler
£Esi^L=J and a teacher and from the closest study of all the things
around him — the earth and sky, the sun and stars, the rise and
fall of tides, the changes of the seasons and all the every-day
happenings of this wonderful world of ours — he announced as
his belief a theory that men called ridiculous but which, to-day,
every boy and girl beginning the study of geography accepts with-
out question. " The earth," said Pythagoras to his pupils, " is
spherical and inhabited all over."
That was fully twenty-five hundred years ago and yet,
after nearly two thousand years had passed, a certain
Italian sailor whose name was Christopher Columbus and
who believed as did the old Grecian scholar, made the
same statement before a council of the most learned men
of Spain and was laughed to scorn. " This Italian is
crazy," they said. ''Why, if the earth is round the people
9
10
THE NEW WOULD THAT 1(1 1. S OLD.
on the other side would be walking about with their heels above
their heads; all the trees would grow upside down and the ships
must sail up hill. It is absurd.
All the world knows that the
earth is flat."
P)Ut this Italian sailor was per-
sistent ; Ijetter still, he was pa-
tient. His life had been full of
adventure. From his boyhood
he had Ijeen a .sailor and a .sol-
dier, a fighter and a traveler in
many lands and upon many sea?.
He loved tlie study of geogra-
phy ; he was an expert map-
drawer ; he had noticed much
and thought moi-e. Believing in
the theory of. Pythagoras, famil-
iar to Italian scholars, that this
earth was a globe, he also be-
lieved that by sailing westward
he could at last reach India —
or Catha}-, as all the East was
called.
For ill those days, four hundred years ago, Eastern Asia wa.?
a new land to Western Europe. It was supposed to be the home
Cllia-^lul'llKK CUIAMIU s.
of wealth and Inxury. From it came the gold
and spices and all the rare things that Europe
most desired but which were only to lie pro-
cured by long and dangerous journeys overland.
To the man who would find a sea-way to India
great honors and greater riches were sure to
come. So all adventurous minds were bent upon
discovering a new way to the East.
''S^t
A DUi;.\M UF CAT1I.\Y.
THE NEW WORLD THAT WAS OLD.
11
Christopher Columbus solved the problem. The surest and safest
way to the East, he said, is to sail west. This really sounded so
ridiculous that, as we liave seen, men called him crazy and for a
lono- time would have nothino; to do with him or his schemes. But
illi: l.AUliE.MIAN l:o(JKS l)F THE ADIIiO-\D.\(.K i;i:ijiu:,.
he persisted ; he gained friends ; he talked so confidently of success,
so eloquently of spreading the knowledge of the Christian religion
among the heathen folk of Asia, so attractively of getting, from
these same heathen folk, their trade, their gold and their spices
that at last the king and queen of Spain were won over to his side,
12 THE NEW WORLD THAT M'A^ OLD.
and on tlio tliinl of August. 14!t2, witli throe ships iiiid one huiuh-efl
and twenty men, Christoplier Oohnnbus set sail from the port of
Palos in southwestern Spain and steered straight out into Avhat
peojjle called the dreadful Sea of Darkness in search of a new way
to India across the western waters. But though Columbus was
right in his theories and though, by traveling westward he could
at last reacli India and the East something that he knew nothing
of lay in his path to stop his sailing westward. Wlint was it '.'
Upon the western half of the earth's surface, stretching its ten
thousand miles of length almost from pole to pole, lay a mighty
continent — twin countries, each three thousand miles wide and
•joined bv a narrow strip of land. Known now to us as North and
South America this western continent contains three tenths of all
the dry land on the surface of the glebe. It is nearly fifteen
million square miles in extent, is four times as large as Europe,
five times the size of Australia, one third larger than Africa and
not quite as vast as Asia. And this was what stopped the way as
Columbus sailed Avestward to the East.
But though it was a new and all unknown land to the great
na\igator it is the oldest land in the world. The region fi'om the
Adii-ondack forests northward to and beyond the St. Lawrence
River, and known as the Laurentian rocks, is said by those students
of the rocks, the geologists, to have been the \qy\ first land that
showed itself above the receding waters that once covered the
whole globe. And all along the hills and valleys of North Am-
erica to the south as far as the Alleghanies and the Ohio the great
ice-sheet that once overspread the earth and that was driven by
the advancing heat nearer and nearer to the North i)ole, uncovered
a hind so early in the history of this western world that it was old
when Europe and Asia were new.
This old, old land, however, is commonly called the New World.
That is because it was new to tlie Europeans foui- hundred years
ago. But long before their day there had been people living
THE NEW WORLD THAT WA.S OLD.
13
within what is now the United States. Away back in what is
known to geologists as the "pleistocene period" — that is the
"most new" or "deposit" age — when the ice was slipping north-
ward and dirt was being deposited on the bare rocks ; when the
verdnre and vegetation that make hillside and valley so beautiful
to-day were just beginning to tinge the earth with green ; when
the great hairy elephant bathed in the Hudson and the wooUy
" WHf.M MONSTROUS-TOED BIRDS WADED IN THE CHARLES. "
rhinoceros wallowvN'l in the prairie lakes ; when the dagger-toothed
tiger prowled throi'gh the forests of Pennsylvania and the giant
sloth browsed on the tree tops from Maine to Georgia ; when the
curved-tusked niastorion ranged through the Carolinas and mon-
strous-toed birds wad-id in the Charles — there appeared, also, by
lake-side, river and sesishore a naked, low-browed, uncouth race of
savages, chipping the fli^t stones of the Trenton gravel banks into
knives and spear heads and disputing with the great birds and
beasts whose trails and tracks they crossed for the very caves and
holes in which tho\' li\'ed. These were the first Americans.
u
THE NEW WORLD THAT WA:S OLD.
The more people mix with each other, you iviiow, the more
friendly they become. In savage lands, to-day, tribes that are
furious fighters against hostile tribes are linked together by some
bond of family ties and held by some sort of internal government.
So it was with the early Americans. As soon as they had risen
above the first brutal desire for eating and sleeping, they learned
the difference between fighting for food and figliting for power;
they saw that the skins of the animals thej- killed could be wrapped
about them for shelter and that a sharpened stone was a better
weapon than one that was simply Hung at their
enemy or their game. From fighting with the
beasts and with each other they liegan to band
together for protection ; then, those who lived
in the more favored portions of the land grew
a little more mindful of one another's wants;
they made of themselves little communities in
which fishing and hunting were the chief pur-
suits, but where those who had the time and
iurliuation betjan to fashion things of stone or
clay to meet their needs. Bowls and mortars,
knives and arrow-heads were followed in time by bracelets and
bands, vases and pipe-bowls. Still they progressed. The com-
munities became tribes ; some of them began to build houses, to
make cloth, to do something more than simply to eat and fight and
sleep.
To-day all over the niiddle poi'tion of the United States, from
New York to Missouri, there are found great heaps of earth which
wise men who have studied them sav are the remains of the towns
and villages, the forts and temples, the homes and trading-places of
the most civilized portion of the American people of two or three
thousand years i^.go, and known for want of a l)etter name under
the term " mound-builders." In the far Western plains and ri\er
cour.ses, in Arizona and New Mexico and along the lianks of the
AN K.MtLV A.MKKICW.
THE RED AMEEICAXS.
" The men did the huntiinj, flshiuy and flfjhting'
THE NEW WORLD Til AT WAS OLD. IT
mighty Colorado tliere exist remains of great houses covering hirge
sections or perched away up in the crevices of mighty cliffs. These
were occupied in the early days by races now called, for con-
venience, the piiehlo or house-builders and the cliff-dwellers.
All these home-building people were, however, of the same race
as the fierce and homeless savages who still hunted and slaughtered
in the forests of the East or on the prairies of the West. All were
Americans coming from the same " parent stock." Some of them,
being brighter, more ambitious or more helpful than others, simply
made the most of their opportunities and grew, even, into a rude
kind of civilization.
But while these advanced, the others stood still. Here in the
old American home-land was fought the fight that all the world
has known — the conflict between io-norance and intellio-ence. The
good and the bad, the workers and the drones, the wise ones and
the wild ones here struggled for the mastery, a certain attempt at
civilization which some had made went down in blood and conquest
and so, gradually, out of the strife came those red-men of America
that our ancestors, the discoverers and colonists from across the
sea, found and fought with four centuries ago.
Hunters i-equire vast tracts of land to support them in anj'thing
approaching comfort ; wars and tribal hostilities prevent rapid
growth and there were, probably, never more than five or six
liundred thousand of the red-men of North America li\ing within
the territory now occupied by the United States. They were of all
classes, ranging from the lowest depths of savageness to the higher
forms of barbarism ; some were wild and some were wise ; some
were brutes and some were statesmen ; some were as low in the
social scale as the tramps and roughs of to-day ; some as high (from
the red-man's standpoint) as are your own fathers and mothers seen
f)om your standpoint to-day.
The half-million red-men who owned and occupied our United
States four hundred years ago, though scattered over a vast area.
18
THE NEW WORLD THAT WAS OLD.
] of the \
speaking different languages and varying, according to location,
in customs, costume, manners, laws and life, were still brothers,
springing from the same original family and having, in whatever
section of the land they lived, certain things alike ; they all had
the same straight, black hair; they all used in their talk the same
sort of many-syllabled words — ''bunch words" as they are called ;
and they were all what w^e know as communists — that is, they held
their land, their homes and their pro)>-
erty in connnon.
A red American's village was like
one large family. All its life, all it,s in-
terests and all its desires being shared
iointly by all its inmates. Just as if
to-day, the |)eople of Natick, or Catskill.
or Zanesville or Pasadena should agree
to live together in one big house with
little compartments for each family, eat-
ing together from the same soup-kettle
and dividing all they raised and all they
found equally between all the inmates
of the one big house. The men did the
hunting and fishing and fighting ; the women attended to the home-
work and the field labor. The boys and girls learned early to do
their share and in the home the woman of the house was supreme.
Even the greatest war-chief when once within his house dared not
disobey the women of his house.
The red-men had but a dim idea of God and heaven. They
were superstitious and full of fancies and imaginings. They wor-
shiped the winds, the thunder and the sun, and were terribly
afraid of whatever they could not miderstand. They had good
spirits and bad — those that helped them in seed time and harvest,
iu woodcraft and the cha.se, and those, also, that baffled and annoyed
them when arrows failed to strike, traps to catch or crops to grow.
COLUMBUS THE ADMIRAL.
19
In other words, the red-men of North America were biit as little
children who have not yet learned and cannot, therefore, under-
stand the reasons and the causes of the daily happenings that make
up life.
CHAPTER II.
COLUMBUS THE ADMIRAL.
N a beautiful October morning in the year 1492, as one of
the red Americans belonging to the island tribes that
then lived on what we know as the Bahama group,
southeast of the Florida coast, parted the heavy foliage
that ran almost down to the sea on his island home of
Guanahani, he saw a sight that very nearly took his breath away.
Just what it was he could not at first make
out, but he thought either that three terrible
sea-monsters had come up from the water to
destroy his land and people or that three great
canoes with wings had dropped from the sky
bringing, perhaps, to the folks of Guanahani
some marvelous message from the spirits of
the air of whom they stood in so much awe.
Gazing upon the startling vision until he
had recovered from his first surprise he
wheeled about and dashed into his village to
arouse his friends and neio-hbors. His loud
calls quickly summoned them and out from the
forest and through the hastily parted foliage
they rushed to the water's edge. But as they
THE
IA.XOES WITH WINGS.
20
COLUMBi'S THE AD Mill A L.
gained the low and level beach the}- too stood mute with terror
and surprise. For, from each of the monster canoes, other canoes
put off. In them were strange beings clothed in glittei-ing metal
or gaily colored robes. Their faces were pale in color ; their hair
was curly and sunny in hue. And in the foremost canoe grasping
in one hand a long pole from which streamed a gorgeous banner
and with the other outstretched as if in greeting stood a figure
upon whom the Americans looked with wonder, reverence and
awe. It was a tall and commanding figure, noble in aspect and
brilli;int in costume and as the islanders marked the marvelous
face and form of this scarlet-clad loader they bent in reverence
and cried aloud '• Turey ; tureii ;
they are tureij!'' (Heaven-.sent.)
On came the canoes filled with a
glittering company and gay witii
fluttering ilags. But as the first
boat grounded on the beach and
the tall cliief in scarlet, his gray
head yet uncovered, the flaming
banner still clasped in his hand,
leaped into tlie water followed
by his men the terrified natives
thought the spirits of the air were come to take vengeance upon
them and, turning, they fled to the security of thicket and tree-
trunk. But led back by curiosity the\- looked again upon the.se
strange new-comers, and behold! they were all kneeling, bare-
headed, upon the sand, kissing the earth and lifting their eyes
toward the skies.
Tlien the scarlet-mantled leader rising from the ground, planted
the great standard in the sand and drawing a long and shining
sword he spoke loud and solemn words in a, language the wonder-
In"; islanders could not understand, while those marvelous figures
d)out him as if in
THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS.
in glittering metal and gleaming clotli knc
THE YOUNG COLUMBUS.
" It was the realization of a Ufe-Ionri dream, first dimly conceived by him in his
boyhood days at Genoa."
COLUMBUS THE ADMIRAL. 23
worship. They kissed their chieftain's hands, they embraced his
feet and raised such kiud and joyous shouts that the simple
islanders puzzl'id yet over-awed supposed all they saw to be signs
of the devoutest adoration. '■'■ Turey ; iurey!" they cried again.
"He is heaven-sent." And then they, too, prostrated themselves
in adoration.
Who were these pale-faced visitors who had come in such a
startlint' wa\- across the eastern sea ? Not for years coidd the red
Americans into whose lands they came understand who they were
or why they had visited them, although they learned, all too soon,
that there was little about the new comers that was godlike or
heavenly. The pale-faced strangers deceived and ill-treated the
simple natives from the first and for four hundred years the red-
men of America have known little but bad faith and ill-treatment
at the hands of the white.
But we who luive hoard the story again and again know who
were these wliite visitors to Guanahani and from whence they
came. For the leader of that brilliant throng that knelt in thank-
fulness upon the Bahama sand — this chieftain, whose followers
clustered about him and raised applauding shouts while he took
possession of the new-found land in the name and by the authority
of Ferdinand and Isabella, king and queen of Spain — this scarlet-
mantled captain whom the wondering natives worshiped as a
god, was that Christopher Columbus, the wool-comljer's son, the
enthusiast whom men had laughed at as a madman and a •• crank,"
the patient, persistent Italian adventurer who was now because of
his great discovery owner of one tenth part of all the riches he
should find, Lord Admiral of all the waters into which he should
sail and viceroy of all the lands of this New Spain upon whose
sunny shores he had set foot. " I have found Cathay," he cried.
It was a glorious ending to long years of toil and struggle.
It was the realization of a life-long dream, first dimly conceived by
him in his bovhood days at Genoa. With firm and unwavering
24 COLUMBUS TUE ADMIRAL.
fiiitli r()linii])ns liad overcome all odds. He had been despised
and ridieided. threatened and cast aside ; he had gone from court
to coiu-t in Enrope vainly seeking aid for his enterprise ; and when,
at last, this was eautionsly given, he had braved the terrors of an
luiknown sea witli tlu'ee crazy little vessels and an luiwilling coni-
jianv' of a hundred and twenty men. For days and days he had
sailed westward .seeing nothing, finding nothing. whiK' his men
sneered and grumbled and plainly showed that, if they dared,
they would gladly have flung their captain overboard and turned
about for home. At last signs of land began to appear — vagrant
seaweed and floating drift wood, land birds blown oft" the shore
and warm breezes that almost .suielled of field and forest. And
then, one day, at midnight the admiral saw a moving light that
told of life near l)y and finally in the early morning the eiy of
Land ! from the watcid'ul lookout, Rodrigo de Triana, a sailor on
board the Nina, told that the end of the long waiting at last had
come and that Cathay was found.
It was on the niorinng of Friday the twelfth of October. 1492,
that Cohnnlnis landed on the island of Guanahani and solemnly
named the i.sland '• San Salvador." The rich vegetation, the dark-
.■^kinned natives, the rude but glittering ornaments in their ears
and on their arms alike strengthened his belief tiiat liis plans w^re
all successfid and that he had found the land of gold and spices he
had sailed away to seek. He had promised to find the Indies and
because by sailing westward he had come upon what he supposed
to be certain rich islands off the India coast these i.slands were
called and have ever siiu'C been known as the "West Indies, while
the red natives who inhabited both the islands and the vast conti-
nent beyond have ever since been called l)y the name the Spanish
discoverers ga\e them — Indians.
It wa-s all a mistake. Colnmb\is had sailed westward to find
Iiulia and had found a new world instead, a world that wa.s to prove
of fjreater value to mankind than <'ver India woidd or could. But
COLUMBVS THE ADMIRAL. 25
to the day of his death Columbus believed he had foimd the land
he sought for. " I have gone to the Indies from Spain by travers-
ing the ocean westwardly," were almost his last words. And
although he made four voyages across the Atlantic, each time dis-
covering new lands and seeing new peojole, he still believed that
he was only touching new and hitherto unknown islands off the
eastern coast of Asia.
And so for a while all the world believed. No conqueror ever
received a more glorious reception on his home-coming than did
Columbus, the admiral. He entered the city of Barcelona, whore
the king and queen waited to receive him, in a sort of triumphal
procession. Flags streamed and trumpets blew ; great crowds
came out to meet him or lined the ways and shouted their
welcome and enthusiasm as he rode along. Captive Indians,
gaily colored birds, and other trophies from the new-found
land were displayed in the procession and in a richly deco-
rated pavilion, surrounded by their glittering court, King
Ferdinand and Isabella the queen received the admiral, bid-
ding him sit beside them and tell his wonderful story.
Honors and privileges were conferred upon him. He was
called Don, he rode at the king's bridle and was served and saluted
as a grandee of Spain.
Columbus, as has been said, made four voyages to America. But
after the second ^•oyage men began to understand that he had
failed to find India. The riches and trade that he promised did not
come to Spain and many an adventurer who had risked all for the
greed of gold and the return he hoped to make became a beggar
through failure and hated the great admiral through whom he
expected to Avin mighty riches. Enemies were raised up against
him ; he was sent back from his third voyage a prisoner in disgrace
and chains, and from his fourth voyage he came home to die.
But neither failure nor disgrace could take away the glory from
what he had accomplished. Gradually men learned to understand
26 THE NAMING OF AMERICA.
the o-reatness of his achievement, the virtue of lus marvelous
perseverance, the strength and nobiUty of his character. After his
death the people of Spain discovered that he had opened for them
the way to riches and honor; by the wealth of ''the Indies" that
Columbus brought to their feet their struggling land was made one
of the most powerful nations of the earth : and though some people
have said that Columbus did not discover America, l)ut that French
fishermen or Norwegian pirates were the real discoverers, we all
know that, until Columbus sailed across the sea, America was un-
known to Europe and that, for all practical purposes, his faith anil
his alone gave to the restless people of Europe a new world.
America was better than Cathay, for it has proved the home of
freedom, hope and progress.
CHAPTER III.
THE X.VMIXG OF AMERICA.
OLUMBUS, as you have heard, did not know that he had
discovered a new world. He thought he had merely
touched some of the great islands off the eastern coast of
Asia. Even when, in the month of August, 1498, he first
saw the mainland of America, at the mouth of the river
Orinoco, he did not imagine that he had found a new continent, but
believed that he had discovered that fabled ri^er of the East into
which, so men said, flowed the four great rivers of the world — the
Ganges, the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Nile.
THE NAMING OF AMERICA.
27
But his success set other men to thinking, and after his wonder-
ful voy.ige in 1492 many expeditions were sent westward for pur-
poses of discovery and exploration. After he had found " Cathay '
every man, he declared, wanted to become a
discoverer. There is an old saying you may
have heard that tells us " nothing succeeds
like success." And the success of Columbus
sent many adventurers sailing westward.
They, too, wislied to share in the great
riches that were to be found in " the lands
where the spices grow," and they believed
they could do this quite as well as the great
admiral.. Once at a dinner given to Columbus a certain envious
Spaniard declared that he was tired of hearing the admiral praised
so highly for what any one else could have done. '• Why," said
he, '• if the admiral had not discovered the Indies, do you think
there are not other men in Spain who might have done this?"
Columbus made no reply to the jealous Don, but took an egg from
its dish. "Can any of you stand this egg on end?" he asked.
One after another of the company tried it and failed, whereupon
the admiral struck it smartly on tlie table and stood it upriglit on
its brpken part. "Any of you can do it now." he said, "and any
of you can find the Indies, now that I have shown you
the way."
So every great king in Europe desired to possess new
principalities beyond the sea. Spain, Portugal, France,
England alike sent out voyages of discovery westward —
•■ trying to set the egg on end."
Of all these discoverers two other Italians, followino;
where Columljus had led, are worthy of S2)ecial note —
John Cabot, sent out by King Henry the Seventh of England in
1497, and Amerigo or Alberigo Vespucci, who is said to have sailed
westward with a Spanish expedition in the same year. Both of
28
THE NAMING OF AMERICA.
these men. it is asserted, saw the mainlaiid of America before
Cohimbus did. and England foiuided her claims to possession in
North America and fcjught many bloody Avars to maintain them
because John Cabot in 1497 "first made the American continent"
and set up the flag of England on a Canadian headland, in that
same year of 1497 Cabot sailed along the North American coast
from the St. Lawrence to the Hudson ; and Vespucci, although this
is doubted by many, sailed in the same year along the southern
coast from Florida to North Caro-
lina. In 1499 Vespucci really did
touch the South Anu'rican coast,
and in 1-303 he Iniilt the Hrst fort
on the mainland near the })rescnt
city of Rio de Janeiro.
Both these Italian navigators
thought at first, as did Columbus,
that they had found the direct
way to tlie Indies, and each one
earnestly declared himself to have
been the first to discover the main-
land. At any rate Vespucci could
talk and write the best and he had
many friends among the scholars
of his day. When, therefore, it
really dawned upon men that the
land across the seas to which the genius of Columbus had led them
was not India or " Cathay " but a new contirient. then it was that
the man who had the most to say about it olitaincd the greatest
glory — that of giving it a name.
Wise men who have studied the matter deeply are greatly puz-
zled just how to decide whether the continent of America took it,><
name from Amerigo Vespucci or whether Vespucci took his name
from America. Those who hold to the first cpiote from a very old
AMERIGO VESPUCCI.
gPAI^V ANB HER RIVALS.
29
book that says '' a fourth part of the "world, since Amerigo found it,
we may call Amerige or America ; " those who incline to the other
opinion claim that the name America came from an old Indian
word Maraca-pan or Amarca, a South American country and tribe ;
Vespucci, they say, used this native word to designate the new
land, and upon its adoption by map-makers deliberately changed
his former name of Alberigo or Albericus Vespucci to Amerigo or
Americus.
But whichever of these two opinions is correct, the Italian astron-
omer and ship chandler Vespucci received the honor and glory that
Columbus should have received or that Cabot might justly have
claimed, and the great continent upon which we live has for nearly
four hundred years borne the name that he or his admirers gave to
it — America.
CHAPTER IV.
SPAIN AND EER RIVALS.
FTER the year 1500 ships and explorers followed each
other westward in rapid succession. Spain, as she had
started the enter])rise, still held the lead and secured most
of the glory and the reward. France sought a footing on
the northern shores, England aAvoke slowly to the value
of the Western world, but for nearly fifty years Spain stood alone
in the field of American discovery and conquest.
And Spain's hand was heavy. The nation was greedy for gold ;
America was thought to be a land of gold aud every exertion was
30
SPAIN AND IIER RIVALS.
made to obtain great stores of the precious metal. For this the
ships sailed westward while the " gontlonien-ndventnrers" thronged
their decks; lor this thev coasted up and down the land, killing the
trusting natives without pity, or turning
tlicni into slaves to lu'lp on theii' gi'cedy
search. The lirst ([uestion on lauding was:
Which way docs the treasure lie? and the
new comer.s could scarcely wait hut would
rusli where even the slrndei-est promise
pointed Avith the cry, •• (lold, gold I " upon
their lips.
But this restless hunt for gold gave the
knowledge of new lands (o the world, in 1500, Captain Cabral
the Portuguese navigator discovei-cd tlir shores of Brazil ; that
same year, thousands of miles to the north, the French sailoi-
Gaspar Cortereal landed upon Labrador ; in 1508 Vincent Pinzon
entered the Rio de La Plata and the Spanish gold-hunters find-
ing the Indians not hardy enough for work in the nunes .sent over
African negroes to take their places, and thus introduced into
America the cur.se of negro slavery; in 1-511 Diego
Velasquez, with three hundred men, conquered the
island of Cuba; in 1512 John Ponce de Leon, .seek-
ing for a mairic fountain that, it was said, would
make him young again, discovered Florida but not
the magic spring; in 1513 Va.sco Nunez de Balboa,
still looking for the coveted gold, crossed the Isth-
mus of Darien and discovered the Pacific Ocean ; in
1519 Hernando Cortes with five hundred and fifty
men sailed to the conquest of Mexico and completed
his bloody work in less than two years; in 1519
Francisco de Garay explort'd the (iulf of Mexico ; in 1520 Lucas de
Ayllon explored the Carolina coast; in 1522 Fernando Magellan
sailed around the world; in 1524 the Italian capt;iin Verrazano
SPAIN AND HER RIVALS.
33
sailed with a French expedition into Narragansett Bay I'nd New
York harbor; in 1531 the cruel Pizarro with scarce a thousand men
overthrew the Inca civilization of Peru and conquered all that coast
for Spain; in 1535 Jacques Cartier, a French navigator, explored the
Gulf of St. Lawrence and set up the arms of France on the banks
of the great river of that name; in 1535 the Spanish captain
Mendoza with two thousand men conquered all the great silver
country about the Rio de la Plata ; in 1537 Cortes, sending an
expedition north-
covered the re2;ion i
De Soto with /^''
the conquest M
J"
ward along the Pacific coast, dis-
called California; in 1539 Fernando
a gallant army, landed in Florida for
of all that country, and marched
westward to his death ; in 1541
Chile was conquered by Spanish
ti-oops and Orellana the advent-
urer made the descent of the
Amazon from its source to its
-"' mouth; in 1543 De Soto's broken
expedition came sadly back, a sorry
remnant only, leaving its leader dead
beneath the waters of the great river he
had discovered — the mighty Mississippi.
It is a long and adventurous record, in which
Spain bears almost all the glory, is it not? But
so for fifty years did Spanish ships and Spanish
soldiers " the Couquistadores " or conquerors, as
they were called, sail and march hither and
thither, exploring and couquering. making a few settlements at im-
portant points from which they might send home the riches they
had collected, oettins: themselves hated by the red men whom
they tortured and enslaved, and growing each year more and more
greedy for the gold they never seemed able to get enough of.
Whoever is greedy is certain to be disliked, for he who tries to
IN SIGHT OF MEXICO.
34
SPAIN AND UER lilVALS.
appropriate everything generally finds that other people object to
.such an ai)propriation. Four hundred years ago the Pope of Rome
was believed to be the head of the Christian world. To him kings
and princes gave obedience and his word was law. When Portugal
— 1)V reason of her discoveries in Africa and Asia — and Sjiain, be-
cause of what CoUunbus had found acro.'^s the western seas, appealed
to Rome for authority to possess the lands, the Pope drew a line on
the map and said: " All discoveries west of this line shall belong to
Spain ; all east of it shall belong to
Portugal."
But there were other nations that
objected to such a division. England,
as we have seen, claimed the right to
possess America because of Cabot's dis-
covery in 1497,. and France whose
fishermen had for years sailed westward
to the shallow places or "banks" off
Newfoundland where codfish Avere to be
caught, laid equal claim to the Ameri-
can shores. For years they did not
openly dispute with Spain, for the ships
and explorers of that nation kept to
the .south in their .search for gold, while France kept to the north.
Verrazano. in May, 1524, had landed near Portsmouth, N. H.. and
in 1537 Captain Jacques Cartior sailed up the St. Lawrence River
as far as Montreal. Other French ships followed, and though Spain
grumbled loudly and threatened all sorts of harsh things to France
for thus sailing into •• her territories," for a while nothing was
done because S]iain still held that the most valuable part of America
wivs to the south where the gold mines lay.
But now England awoke to the fact that Spain's greediness must
be stopped, and that .some of the good things that Avere being found
in America ouuht realh' to come to her. The king of England
SI'AIJV' AND UER lilVALS.
35
quarrelled with the Pope of Rome, and denying the right of the
Pope to give away tlie new world to Spain, King Henry the Eiii-hth
and his daughter the famous Queen Elizabeth began to send their
ships and fighting-men into the very regions that Spain had held
so long — the West Indies and Soutli American waters. Captain
William Hawkins, his son. Captain John Hawkins, and the brave
Sir Francis Drake were the most celebrated of these earlv Eno-Hsh
sea-captains who dared the might of Spain. Thej- worried the
Spaniards terribly ; they stormed their forts, captured their ships
and seized tlieir stores of goods and merchandise, and by their
daring and their audacity so enraged the Spaniards, that for o^•er a
liundred years the waters all about the West India Islands and the
lands which were known as the Spanish Main, were the scene of
bloody battles and cruel revenges. These old English-
men were brave men though they were cruel fighters,
as indeed were all men in those bloody times. Captain
John Hawkins kept his ships together by these excel-
lent directions : " Serve God daily ; love one another ;
preserve your victuals ; beware of fire ; and keep good //jIk
company." And Sir Francis Drake, who was the first '''" '
of Euiilishmen to discover the Pacific Ocean, and who in
1578 made a famous vovaare ai'ound the world, was so
m.' ~
feared by the Spaniards against wliom he fought con-
tinuallv, that thev called him '• the Ena-lish dragon."
Other noted Englishmen who made themselves famous in Ameri-
can discovery were Martin Frobisherwho tried to find a way around
America b}^ sailing to tlie north : Sir Humphrey Gilbert Avho twice
tried to make a settlement in North America and the story of
whose shipwreck in the Swallow has been told in a beautifid poem
b}- Longfellow ; Captain John Davis, whom you know in geograi^hy
as the brave mariner for wliom Davis' Straits were named ; and Sir
Walter Raleioh who crave the knowledge of tobacco to the world
and made the first Eno-lish settlement in North America in 1587.
Ii: FKAXCIS DKAKE.
36
SPAIN ANT) HER JillALS.
But. before Ealeigh, settlements had alreacl}' been made in what
is now the region known as the United States. John Ribault and
Rene de Laudonniere, French Protestants both, in the years 15(32
and 1564 settled French colonies in Florida only to be horribly
killed by the Spaniards who claimed the sole right of occupation of
that beautiful summer land. Tn 1505 the Spaniards fonnded St.
Augustine and in 1570 tried
to make a .settlement on the
Potomac River, but failed. The
Spaniards even peneti-ated into
the country as far north as Cen-
tral New York, but all their
colonies north of Florida were
failures. In 1540 a Spanish
captain, named Coronado, .set
out from Mexico to find a won-
derful land of gold known as
the "Seven Cities of Cibola."
He led a most remarkable march
across the western territory of
the United States almost as far
north as the present city of
Omaha. But he failed to find
the .seven fairy cities he sought
or even the gold he hoped to
bring away ; though, had he but
known it. his march across New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado was
over more gold than he ever dreamed of — but it was sunk deep
down in mines beneath the earth.
So, all through the sixteenth century, from 15UU to UiOO, went on
the fight between Spain and France and England for the possession
)f the Avestern world. Except in tlic far south, in Mexico and the
West Indies, in Brazil and Peru, few settlements were made. It
.Slli WAI.TKl! itAi.i;K;ii.
HOMES IJSr THE JSFEW WORLD.
37
was simply a gold-hunt for a hundred years. At length Europeans
began to understand that the riches of the New World were in its
splendid climate and its fertile soil, and learned to know that future
success was to be found only by those who made homes within its
borders. Then it was that the gold-hunt ceased and the exjjlorers
were followed hy the colonizers.
=^«L
CHAPTER V.
HOMES IN THE XEW WORLD.
HAVE seen laoys and girls — have not you ? — wii&. when
all had equal chances, would rush to the best strawberry-
patch, or the fullest blackberry-bush, or the best place for
a sight of some passing procession and cry out, " Ah-ha !
it's mine. I got here first ! " Such a display of selfishness
is certain to make their companions angry, especially if the finders
refuse to share their good fortune.
Well — there was a certain Avise old poet (Dryden, his name was^
who after studvins; the Avays of the world declared that
' Men are but cliiklrcii of a larger growth,"
38
HOMES IN THE NEW WOULD.
-^_.Vo
and the settlement of America is good proof of this. For each nation
as it found a footing in the new worhl cried out to the rest of Europe,
just like sellish children : " It's mine. I got liere first! "
And it does seem as though for fully a hundred and fifty years —
from 1600 to 1750 — the European settlers in North America spent
a good portion of their time in
trying to push one another off
the little spots of earth on which
the V stood, shoxinu' and elhowino;
each otlier and growling out :
'• Get otf ; this is my ground ! "
or: •• Get off, yourself; I've as
nuich right here as vou ! "
The Spaniards pushed away the
French and the English elhowed
off the Dutch and the Dutch
crowded out the Swedes until at
last, with a 2:rand shove, the
English pushed (jff Spaniards,
Dutchmen, Frenchmen and all,
occupying the whole of North
America from the St. Lawrence
River to the Gulf of Mexico.
At first the colonies that set-
tled in America were started for
money-making purposes. Those
who founcU'd them came for pur-
poses of trade or because they hoped to make a living in the new
world more easily than they could at home. Stiange .stories were
told of the riches that were to be found in America. "Gold," .so
one man said it had been told him, " is more pU'ntil'ul there than
copper. The pots and pans of the folks there ari' pure gold, and as
for rubies and diamonds tliey go forth on holidays and ])ick them
S^;,
•• KLUOWIXU Ol'F.
HOMES IN THE NEW WORLD.
39
up on the seashore to hang on then- children's coats and stick in
their chikh"en"s caps."
So the lazy peojilc who wished to get rich at once without hard
work, sailed over to America only to he terribly
disappointed. But with all these money-seeking
adventurers went also many hard-working and
many good and kind people who reallj' desired
:--'^" homes in the new world or hoped to be able to
help the "red salvages," as they called the In-
dians. Brave preachers or missionaries of the
Roman Catholic Church went ahead even of the
French explorers and settlers ; they carried the
knowledge of the Christian religion to the wild Indians of Canada,
who never could seem to understand what the good missionaries
souo'ht to teach them and, too often, thinking that because the
"black robes" came from hostile tribes they must be enemies, tor-
tured and killed them. To the English colonies, also, came men
and women who had a deeper purpose than simply to make a living.
They came because they foiuid it so hard to agree upon religious
matters with those in authority at home, and because they hoped
in a new land to be able to live together in peace and with the
right to worship God as they pleased.
All this was in the early years of 1600. There had been settle-
ments formed already within the limits of what is now the
United States, but they were not permanent.
In 1565 the Spaniards had founded the present city of St.
Augustine in Florida, making it thus the oldest town in the
United States, but this place while in Spanish possession had
no association with any of the other North American settle- n^,,
ments and can scarcely be considered as belonging to them.
In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh had attempted to plant an English
settlement on Roanoke Island on the North Carolina coast, but the
houses and colonists he left there had disappeared forever when
40
HOMJiS JJSr THE NEW WORLD.
help came over the seas to them, and to this day no one knows
what ever became of " the lost colony."
Ill 1()()U, however, the attention of some of the rich men or capi-
talists of England was directed toward tlu' importance of America as
affording a fine chance for bnsi-
ness investment, and in that
year two wealthy corporations
were fonned for tlie j>urpose
of colonizing the New Woi-ld.
These corporations were called
the London Company and the
Plymonth Company. To these
Companies King James of Eng-
land granted the right to trade
colonize in the land along
and
\
the Atlantic Coast from Halifax
to Cape Fear. Of tliis vast ter-
I'itory the Plymouth Company
was to control the northern half
and the London Company the
southern.
No sooner were these Com-
panies formed than the}' set
about carrying out their plans
for trade and settlement. On
the first of .January, 1607, an
expedition consisting of three ships and over one hundred colonists
sailed from England, sent out by the London Company to settle the
lands where Sir Walter Raleigh had lost his colony and which he
had named Virginia, in honor of the famous Queen Ehzabeth, who
because she never married was known as "the Virgin Queen."
They landed at Jamestown in Virginia.
The most prominent man in this company of adventurers was
QUEEN KI.IZAliliTII.
DISPUTINi; FOE POSSESSION.
" This is my ground."
HOMES IN^ TUB NEW WOULD.
43
Captain John Smitli. His life is one exciting story. A rover and
a fighter from his boyhood, he had been in many hinds and had
had many snrjirising adventnres.
His life in Virginia was no less
remarkable. When provisions
failed and disaster and death
threatened the colonists, Smith
by his wise and energetic meas-
ures found them relief although
many of them were so jealous
of his superior ability, that they
sought to drive him away. But,
notwithstanding their envy, he
worked with hand and brain to
malvo the settlement at James-
town a success. He made friends
with the Indians ; he procured
from them food for the succor
of his starving comrades, and, at
the risk of his own life, again
and again carried the struggling
colony through the dark days of
its beginnings. But he did brag
terribl}'.
The Indians of Virginia were
at first friendly to the settlers.
But they soon learned to dis-
trust and dislike them, and but
for the watchfidness of Captain
John Smith and the good-will of
a little Indian girl whose name
was Ma-ta-oka, sometimes called Pocahontas, the settlement at
Jamestown would soon have been utterly destroyed. Pocahontas,
CTliefc arc the Lines, thutrJJiM tf^j'TaceMt thofo
IliatPicW tliy Grace and Cf lory, l-njhhi- bii i
CT'hvTMVl-D'Jcoiicfies anl Towlc- Ovcrthrawcs'
0/ Satvages,mu:ti' CivUlizi Ij- 'tkccx^^ '
JicHJlciV tfiy Sji'r!i:ani ea it, Gtoiy aVynJi.
Sc.tfiou. artSral?c witfiout.iut Qolai \%'itfmL- .
C^"'icas ihou art Virhis,
44
HOMES IX THE NEW WORLD.
i
■ \ -^
'Vr
'o
/
■^7-
■p
n
'n
who was tilt' daiigliter of the Indian cliief Powliatan, proved licr-
self in many ways the friend of the Avliite people, and it is sad to
think that after her friend Captain Sniitli had left tlu' I'olony. the
settlers repaid her kindness by trying to kidnap the Indian girl so
as to force food and corn from
her father. Powhatan tlie chief
was very angry, and threatened
to destroy the colony, Ijnt jnst
then a certain English gentleman
whose name was Rolfe, fell in
love with Pocahontas and mar-
ried her, and. at her request.
Powhatan made a lasting peace
with the white men. It is said
that two presidents of the United
States. William Henry Harrison
and his grandson Benjamin Har-
rison, are descended from this
Indian girl who married the
Englishman.
Captain John Smith was so
deeply interested in America that
he wrote and talked about it a
great deal. He made a map of
Avhat he called New England, and
the vouno; Enij;lish prince Clrirles
(afterwards.the king Avho lost his head) dotted it all over with make-
believe towns to which he gave the names of well-known towns in
England. Captain Smith told another English captain whose name
was Henry Hudson, some of his ideas, and in 1()()9 Captain Hudson,
sailing in the service of Holland, remendjcred some of Captain
Smith's words and hunted up and explored the In-autiful river that
now bears his name — Hudson River. At the mouth of this river
'■is^ la i/U, cart JH^cj,/^ :7^^,
HOMES IN THE NEW WORLD.
45
"KINCE CHARLKS.
in 1G14 the Dutch, as tlie people of Holland ave called, made a
settlement which they named New Amsterdam. The colonists
were sent out by a rich corporation in Holland called the
Dutch West India Company, formed like the London and
Plymouth Companies for the purpose of ti-ade. They were
sent to the Hudson River country to purchase furs from
the Indians. This little fur post was the beginning of the
great city of New York.
Captain Smith's favorable report of the New England
coast and that of other explorers
who had sailed from Maine to Lono- Island
Sound, tui'ned the attention of settlers in
that direction, but the first real settlement
was made in 1620 by a body of English
exiles known to us as "the Pilgrims."
Driven first to Holland by religious perse-
cution, they sailed from Delft Haven in
the Mayflower under arrangements with
the London or Virginia Company, as it was
sometimes called, intending to settle some-
where near the Hudson River. By some
mistake they did not reach Virginia but
striking to the northward, landed first at
Cape Cod and, afterward — on the twenty-
second of December in the year 1620.
stepped ashore on the gray bowlder fa-
mous as Plymouth Rock, on the Massa-
chusetts coast, and there, in the blealc
winter of 1620-21, founded a sorry littlr
settlement that was the beginning of New
England.
Within the next fifty years other settlements were made along
the Atlantic coast by emigrants from Europe — most of them from
\MIII\M n\\ llli: Vol'XGER.
46 JWJIE.'i IX THE :sE\V WOliLU.
Eny-land — who desired to Iniild lor themselves homes in the New
World. In lG2o Captain John Mason made two settlements on the
Piscataqna River in New Hampsiiire — one at Dover and one at
Portsmouth. In 16-34 certain Englisli Roman Catholics seeking
relief from persecution, settled on the Potomac River in Maryland.
In 1635 people from the Plymouth Colony settled at the mouth of
the Connecticut River, and in 16-36 Roger Williams, a good but out-
spoken man who could not agree on matters of religion with his
Massachusetts brethren, was driven from the colony and with some
of his followers founded Providence in Rhode Island. In 1638 a
com])any of emigrants from Sweden settled on the shores of Dela-
ware Bay ; in 164U certain "^'irginia colonists who could not agree
on religious matters with their neighbors, set up for them.solves at
Albemarle in North Carolina ; in 1670 William Sayle brought a
company of English settlers across the sea and founded Charleston
in South Carolina; in 1664 a settlement was made at a place called
Elizabeth in New Jei-sey ; in 1682 W^illiam Penn the yoiniger, a
famous English Quaker, with one hundred of his associates settled
in Pennsylvania where now stands the great city of Philadelphia ;
and, years after, in 1730, the Englisli soldier General Oglethorjjc
wdth one hundred and twenty colonists, settled in Georgia on the
site of the present city of vSavannah.
These thirteen settlements along the Atlantic coast were the be-
ginnings of the United States of America. As you see they were
for the most part made by peojile who were not satisfied because
things at home did not suit them ; and they were, in most cases,
backed by the capital of ricli men wiio saw in the ni'w land an
opportunity to make money and, st the same time, help the poor
or the persecuted folks who were anxious to escape from tlicir
home troubles.
They occupied but a narrow strip on the ragged .sea-border of a
vast and unexplorcil (•(intim'ut : their beginnings were full of dis-
appointment and disaster; tlu'ir future was uncertain and yet these
THE FIRST COLONISTS.
47
thirteen struggling settlements were in time to be reckoned by
England as among the most important and at the same time the
most troublesome of all her possessions in foreign lands.
T^^^'^
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST COLONISTS.
cz
HEN we remember how many kinds of people go off to set^
tie in new countries and the reasons that draw them there,
we shall not ])e at all surprised to learn that the settlers
along the x\tlantic border of North America two hundred
and fifty years ago, did not have the easiest sort of life or
the pleasantest of times as they tried to make homes for themselves
in the midst of all that wilderness. Even though we try to do so,
we can scarcel}^ picture to ourselves the three thousand miles of
coast hne from Maine to Georgia as it looked in those early days.
For, try as we may. we shall not be able to think of it other tlian as
it exists to-day — cleared of its woodland, studded Avith
noble cities and alive with a crowding and busy throng of
men and women, boys and girls. Then, ifi all New Eng-
land, the forests ran down to the sea.; behind the white
sands of the New Jersev and Carolina beaches, the land
was dark with monstrous pines, Avhile over all the land
prowled the wolf and the bear, the buffalo and the elk,
and all manner of wild wood beasts that we can now only
find in menageries, if at all. Not a horse or a cow lived
in all North America ; those now here are descendants of
the stock brought over hy the European settlers.
48
THE FinsT rOLONISTtH.
Here and there, througliout the land, Avere scattered Indian vil-
lages in -wlucli lived a people that no white man dared to trust, be-
cause no white man could understand their nuunier of thou"ht and
life, \vhik> roving bands in the hunting and fishing season came into
the settlements to exchange their peltry for the \vo!idri-ful labor-
saving tools the white man had brought with him, or to pry about
and make husbaiul and housewife suspicious and inicomfortable.
All about the little settlements rose the xuicleared forests in whose
depths and shadows hukrd they knew not what dangers. The
woodman's axe had made but small openings as yet, and neai- at
hand stood wooden block-house, clumsy fort or picketed ])alisades as
the sole protection against lurking Indians or the still more savage
foeman of France or Spain.
Neither store nor shop. wartM-oom nor manufactury were to be
A l'AI.ISM)i;i> FOKT.
found when food ran short oi' housriiold stuffs were needed, and all
who lacked must go williout or starve until sucli lime as the supply
ship, braving storm and wreck, came sailing over-sea.
But, more than all this, the greatest danger to the struggling
settlements lay in the colonists themselves. Here were people of
THE FIRST COLONISTS.
49
all sorts and conditions — the poor and the proud, the sick and the
well, the good and the bad, the weak and the strong, the wise and
the foolish, the worker and the drone, the dissatisfied and the indif-
ferent, the over-particular and the careless, every class and every
kind of men, women and children whom poverty, discontent, poli-
tics, persecution, restlessness,
greed, love and ambition had sent
across the sea to struggle in a new
world for the homes or the ad-
vantages they had lost in the land
of their birth. Quarreling and
jealousies over rights and privi-
leges ; pi'ivation and distress from
lack of sufhcient food or proper
home surroundings ; disease, sick-
ness and death — all these sprung
up in or visited each little settle-
ment, cutting down its numbers,
stirring up discontent and strife
or hinderiuii' its o-rowth when
most it needed gentle influences,
sturdy workers and healthy and
honest lives.
And yet in spite of all draw-
backs the settlement slowly grew.
Along that narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea,
from Maine to Georgia, were planted in the years between 1620
and 1700 the seeds from which has sprung a mighty nation of free-
men. Before 1620, twelve hundred and sixty-one persons had been
sent to the various '■ plantations " of the Virginia Company ; by
1634 the Massachusetts colonists had grown to between three and
four thousand in number, distributed in sixteen towns. There were
frequent disputes at first as to the ownership of the land and just
SUSPICIOUS OF INDIANS.
50
THE FIRST COLONISTS.
?-i'i^
,^-*_
what the different companies or jjroprietors had the abihty to
promise or the right to give away, but these gradually grew less,
until at length the only bar to the conijjlete English possession of
the Atlantic coast from Pemaquid to Charleston, Avas the little
Dutch settlement at the mouth of the Hudson Kiver.
Three hundred years ago there were two questions that more
tlian any other i)erplexed people. These were : where and how to
live and where and how to go to church.
The Old World was so full of struggle be-
tween kings and princes, lords and ladies,
as to just who liad the strongest arm and
just who should be the ruler, that the peo-
ple who were not of high rank were
looked upon as lit only to fight for this
side or for that. Their trade or occupa-
tion was interfered with and following
this or that party might make a man a
pauper in a day or cost him his life on the
battle-field or his head on the .scaffold.
When, therefore, the settlement of a new
land far away from all this strife and risk,
offered opportunity for whosoever had
pluck enough or ambition enough to try
for fortune in fresh fields, those who loved
money, those who loved ease, those who
loved freedom and those who loved life, hastened to make the
most of the opportunity and sailed to the Virginia Plantations, or
the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam at the mouth of the Hud-
son. Trade in tobacco and trade in furs speedily made both these
sections centers of business, and the Virginia planters and the New
Netherland '• factors " built up a steadily growing trade with the
home markets in England and Holland.
The question as to where and how to go to church was ecpially
DUTCH WI.NUMILLb IN OLD >,KW YOIiK.
THE FIRST COLONISTS.
53
important. When Martin Lutlier in Germany and King Heniy the
Eighth in England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church,
men began to think for themselves more and more, and new sects
and new opinions sprung up in tlie churches. This led to what is
called freedom of thought, but it led also to discussions, quarreling,
persecution and death. People who held certain religious opinions
CAVAI.IEI: AND rrillTAN.
were very firm in their new faith ; the people who believed other-
wise were equally firm, and so it came to pass that they could not
live together in peace and charity. Upon this those who were of
the weaker or persecuted party looked abroad for some place where
they could live as they chose, going to the church of their choice
and mingling with those Avho believed as they did. These too
54 THE FIRST COLONISTS.
hailed America as the place they soiig'ht, and tlnis was Massachu-
setts settled by the Pilgrims and the Puritans, Maryland by the
Roman Catholics, Virginia by the Ejjiscopalians and Pennsylvania
by the Quakers.
But even in the new land all was not peace. For the colonists
had not brought across the sea that brotherly kindness that is
called the spirit of toleration. That was to be gained only as the
outgrowth ot" American life and American freedom. So, from
Maine to Georgia the different church sects were jealous of one
another; thev ara;ued and (luarreled, refused to live toy-ether in
unity and showed the self-same spirit of intolerance and the same
inclination toward persecution that they had fled from in England,
France or Holland.
But in spite of religious differences and political jealousies, of
opposition to trade and neglect by those at home who had promised
them support and succor, the thirteen colonies on the Atlantic bor-
der slowly extended their clearings and enlarged their numbers.
The date of the first jjermanent settlements along the seaboard
— not counting the Spanish at St. Augustine — were the French at
Port Royal in Nova Scotia in 1G05, the English at Jamestown in
Virginia in 1607, the Fi-ench at Quebec in Canada in 1608, the
Dutch at New Amsterdam (afterward New York) in Kilo and the
English at Plymouth in Massachusetts in 1620.
The French settlement of Canada does not propei-ly fall within
our plan of this story any more than does the Spanish si'ttlement of
Mexico, for neither Canada nor Mexico have yet become parts of
the United States, but the enterprise and energy with wdiich the
priests and soldiers, the lords and ladies, the traders and peasants of
France sought to found a vast colony among the lakes, the rivers
and the forests of the North, are worthy of remembrance. Here
Cartier had made discoveries; here Champlain. bravest and nujst un-
tiring of Frenchmen, rightly named '' the Father of New France,"
had founded and fought; here Marquette the missionary and La
THE FIRST COLONISTS.
55
■T?^-
fmi^i^ ■
Salle the trader lived and labored, and, becoming pioneers, pushed
westward, discovering the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers and, by
right of this discovery, establishing the claim of France to all the
wide western country beyond the Alleghanies. But all this vast
section, as we shall see, from Canada to Louisiana, was finally
secured from France by the power of England or the wisdom of
the United .States.
The begiiniings of home-life in the New World which we have
already noticed as the "• first permanent settlements," soon led to
other attempts at colonization. The founding
of Jamestown in Virginia in l(i07 was followed
by that of Henrico and Bernuida in 1611 and
of other "plantation" settlements in 161(3. In
New England the struggling Plymouth colony
of 1620 was followed by .the settlements at
Little Harbor (or Portsmouth) in New Hamp-
shire in 1623, at Pemaquid near the mouth of
the Kennebec River in Maine in 1625, at Salem
in Massachusetts in 1628, at Boston in 1630,
at Providence in Rhode Island in 1636, and at
Hartford and New Haven in Connecticut in
163.J and 1638. The Dutch settlements at
New Amsterdam (New York) and at Renselaerswyck (Albany) in
1623 and at the Wallabout (Brooklyn) were the principal centers
of Dutch life, while at Philadelphia in 1682, at Port Royal and
Charleston in South Carolina in 1670 and 1680 the Europeans broke
ground for homes in a new and untried land. From these as cen-
ters other towns were started and in 1700 the population of the
Atlantic coast settlements extending from Pemaquid in Maine to
Port Royal in" South Carolina had reached upwards of two hundred
thousand. During all these early 3-ears the colonists had l)ut little
in conunon ; their life and laljor were lai-gely confined to the places
in which they had come to make their homes, and a journey from
s4"f
56 HOW THEY LIVED IN COLONIAL DA VS.
New York to Boston was almost as uiicommon as is to-da}' a trip to
Central Africa or a vo3-age to the f'ricndlv Islos.
Their forms of government, too. for tliese first years were differ-
ent. One by one, however, the colonies were taken out of the
hands of the Companies and Lord Proprietors by whom they had
originally been planted and were made royal provinces of England ;
and, in 17(H). the word of the King of England was law throughout
all the thirteen colonies of the English Crown.
CHAPTER VII.
HOW THEY LIVED ]\ (OLOXIAL D.-VYS.
HERE are few boys and girls to-daA', however tenderly
l)rought up, who do not enjoy getting away from their
'jr^ comfortable homes for a few days in the summer and
"roughing it" in some out-of-the-way '' camp " by river,
lake or sea. But, after a while, this summer •• rouii-liin<r "
grows disagreeable and the longing comes for the nice tilings and
modern conveniences of home.
Life in the thirteen colonies in America two hundred and
fifty ^-ears ago was the hardest kind of '■ roughing it." Con-
veniences there were none, and even necessities were few. Many
of the new settlers could not stand tlie life. Some returned across
the sea to the homes they had left ; some, unable to endure the
privations they had to undergo, sickened and died in their new
homes ; but those who did .survive or who could stand the home-
sickness, the dangers and the diseases which all alike must face and
now TIIEY LIVED IN COLONIAL DAYS.
57
ohare, toiighened under hardship, grew strong and sturdy and self-
rehant, and became the ancestors of that hardy race which has built
up into prosperity these United States of ours.
As you have learned from the previous cha^^ter, the early colonists,
alone and in a strange land, had to depend upon themselves for
almost every thing they needed to support life or give them the few
OXGIN'fl I'OR THE OLD HOME.
necessities and fewer comforts they must liave. The gi'ound had to
be cleared of its forests, broken and ploughed and prepared for grain
and grass, for vegetables and fruits. Many a time did those first
comers suffer for food. The "starving time" of 1610 in Virginia,
and the famine of 1623 in tlie Plymouth colony, were hardships that
58
IfOW TUEY LIVED IX COLONIAL DAYS.
very nearly destroyed the feeble settlements ; often the people of
Plymouth in those first days had nothing but clams to eat and water
to drink. And yet one of their faithful ministers. Elder Brewster,
could in the midst of such a terrible lack of food thank God that
'• they were permitted to suck of the abundance of the seas and of
the treasures hid in the sand." Was not that an heroic patience ?
The first houses were the roughest of shelters — holes dug in the
ground and hastily roofed over; then, flimsy bark huts or rudely-
made log cabins ; houses of hewed logs or of planks, hand-split or
hand-sawed from selected forest logs. Finally, as wealthier people
came to the settlements more substantial liouscs of wood or stone
were built. Sometimes, the " finishing touches," the doors and win-
dows, even the verv bricks themselves of which the gable
ends of the houses were built, were brought acro.ss the sea
fi^^" S^ -A^^^v. -v-^^^ from England or Holland
'^^MiX/iy^^"^^-^
- — x"^*-
AN' <>i,i> i..vxi).m.vi;k.
for the adornment of tlie.se
more pretentious houses.
Certain of these old land-
marks may now and then
bi} found to-day, standing,
still strong, though gray and
weather-beaten. I recall one
such in which I have spent many a happy hour, a mile or so back
from the Hud.son River, ju.st across the New Jersey line — its ends
built of little Dutch bricks brought across from Holland, its quaint
and startling mantel of pictured tiles de.scriptive of Old Testament
history, its floor of still solid hand-hewed planks, its massive rafters
dark with .smoke and age. and over the Dutch half-door the date of
building set in burned brick in the front of field stone. And in the
old Jackson house at Andover, in Massachusetts, the chimney was so
huge that two or three mischievous fellows, fastening a rope about
one of their number, lowered him down the chimney until he
reached the spot where hung a '• fine fat turkey set aside for the
JJOW TIIEY LIVED IN COLONIAL DAYS. 61
wedding dinner of Master Jackson's daughter." Then thief and
booty were ahke pulled up the chimney, and of the wedding turkey
a stolen feast was made.
Within the house the rooms were few, but the kitchen, with its
huge fireplace, supplied with seats and settles, was at once kitchen,
dining and living room ; it was the center of the home life ; its
rough but strong home-made furniture, its wooden table-dishes and
clumsy " kitchen-things " would be deemed by us of to-day as suited
only to the hardest kind of " roughing it." There were, of course,
finer houses built as the years went by and the people prospered,
but even the finest mansions had but few of what we now call con-
veniences— few indeed of what we hold as necessities — and even the
most highly-favored children of those early days endured privations
that the boys and girls of our day would grumble at as unbearable.
Porridge for breakfast, mush or hasty pudding for supper, with a
dinner of vegetables and but Httle meat at any time were the daily
meals of our ancestors. Life in all the colonies was rough and
simple, and though we of to-day who expect so much would find in
it much to complain of, it does not seem to have been altogether
uncomfortable as the settlements grew and the fields became more
productive, the crops more plentiful and the larder more bountifully
supplied. Except in the cities — such as Boston, New York and
Philadelphia, where English manners and English fashions gradually
crept into the wealthier families — the wardrobes of parents and
children were scanty and plain. They were usually of homespun
stuff, for the whirring spinning-wheel was the best-used belonging
of every household. Leather breeches and homespun jackets were
worn by father and son, but on Sunday or at times of festivity and
holiday, there was a display of lace ruffles and silver buckles and a
certain amount of style and finery. The windmills ground the corn
that the fertile farms produced ; the post-rider galloped from town
to town with news or messages ; the roads were poor ; the streets in
the few towns were poorly paved and illy lighted ; the field work
62
HOW THEY LIVED IJSf COLONIAL UAlii.
was the great thing to be done, and strict attendance at chui'ch on
Sunday with two-hour sermons to occupy the time was the main
])rivilege of ^oung and old. Schools were
rare and never long-continuing. In the
South little was done toward the general
education of the children, and many of the
boys nnd girls in the early days grew to
manhood and womanhood iniable to write
their names. But as time went on more
attention, in the Northern colonies, was
devoted to the children's schooling. The
instruction given was slight,
and '' book-learning " was con-
fined to a study of the cate-
THE WIIIURIN'G SPINNING-WHEEL.
chism and of " the
three R's" ("reading, 'ritin', and 'rithme-
tic "), while the ferule and the birch rod
played an important part in the school-
master's duties.
There were few wagons for hauling stuff
or carriages for riding. Pack horses were
the only expresses on land ; boats and small
coasting schooners — ketches and snows, as
they were called — carried the heavier
freights and merchandise along the coast
or up and down the rivers.
Indian corn in the North and tobacco in
the South were the principal things raised
and cultivated. Farming tools and utensils
were clumsy and unhandy as compared with
those of to-day, and it was a long time be-
fore the new farm lands were cleared of stumps and rocks. Many
of the New England settlers were fishermen, and as the years went
STOPPING TIIK POST-RIDER.
BOW TBEY LIVED IN COLONIAL DAYS.
63
on they built many vessels for use in the ocean fishei'ies. Ship-
building, in fact, soon grew to be an important industry along the
Atlantic coast, and only six years after the settlement of New
Amsterdam (New York), a " mighty ship "' of eight hundred tons
was built and christened the " Nieuw Netherlands ; " but it proved
so big and cost so much that it
well-nigh ruined the enterprising
Dutchmen who built it and not for
two hundred years after was so great
a vessel attempted in America.
Where there was so much work
to be done and so few ways of mak-
ing it easy there was not much time
for rest or sport. People went to
bed eai'ly so as to be up early in the
morning ; but the men and boys
when they could find the time en-
joyed themselves hunting and fish-
ing, while many of them grew to be
hunters by occupation. Deer and
wild turkeys were plenty in the
woods ; wild geese and fish swarmed
in lake and river ; foxes and wolves,
bears and panthers were sometimes
far too jilenty for the farmer's comfort and a constant war was kept
up against them with trap and gun and fire. .
Life was rougher and harder then than now and the boys and
girls were not allowed to be wasteful of time or food or clothes.
The beadle and the tithing-man, the town-crier and the rattle-watch
made things unpleasant for mischievous young people, and there
was little of that freedom of association between parents and chil-
dren that is one of the jDleasantest features of the home and family
life of to-day. In every village. North and South alike, the stocks
IN rilli CUIMNliY-Cur.NER.
(H
FOES WITHOUT AND WITHIN.
and pillory, the whipping-post and ducking-stool stood in ])lain view
as a warning to all offenders, and as a result people were hardened
to the sight of punishment and boys and girls would even stand by
and make sport while some poor law-breaker was held hand and
foot in the pillory or some scolding woman was doused and drenched
on the duckiu": stool.
Yes, it was a hard life, judged by our standards, when every one
had to "rough it" in those early colonial days. But though we
may not feel that the '"good old tunes" we read aljout could really
have been so very enjoyable, after all, as we understand '■ good
times," we do know that to the struggles and trials, the privations
and efforts, the labors and results of two hundred and fifty years ago
are due the pluck and perseverance, the strength and glory that
made America " the land of the free and the home of the brave."
E£Z
.9lM\
^ss^sm
CHAPTER VIII.
FOES WITHOUT AND WITHIN.
F unploughed land and unfilled forests had been the only
obstacles with which the early colonists had to contend, if
wolf and bear and panther had been the ouly li\ ing ene-
mies against which they had to struggle, then would the
settlement of America have been as easy a task as is
to-dav the starting of new towns in Dakota or Washington, or the
cultivation of the reclaimed lands of Arizona and Idaho. But every
step of the path toward prosperity had almost to be fought for
against foes without and foes witliin.
FOES WITHOUT AND WITHIN.
65
THE CLEARING.
The dread of Indian attaek was an ever-present terror, and for
this no one was to blame save the white men themselves. From
the very first day of discovery the red men and the
white had failed to understand one another. Had
Spaniard and Englishmen but met the Indians
in the spirit of friendship, of justice and of
helpfulness much blood and sorrow might have
been avoided. But from the very first the In-
dians learned to distrust the Europeans. The
white man's greed for gold and for land made
him careless of the red man's rights and more brutal even than
the wild natives of the American forests ; it made him mean and
base and cruel and quickly turned the wonder and reverence of
the Indian to hatred and the desire for revenge.
When the Frenchmen came a second time to Florida they found
the pillar which they had set up to display the arms of France
garlanded with flowers and made an object of Indian reverence ;
when the Pilgrims huddled, half-famished, upon the Plymouth shore
Samoset the Abneki walked in among
them with his greeting " Welcome, Eng-
lishmen ! " and found for them food and
friends ; Avhen Maqua-comen, chief of the
Paw-tux-ents, helped the Maryland colo-
nists of 1634 to found a home he said : " I
love the English so well, that if they
should o-o about to kill me, if I had so
much breath as to speak I would command
my people not to revenge my death, for I
know that they would do no such a thing
except it were through my own fault."
But this early loving-kindness was short-
lived. The red and white races could not mingle peaceably when
the white man wanted all that he could get and the red man loved,
ON THE WATCU.
66
FOES WITHOUT AND WITHIN.
so strongly, the land of his fathers. From Maine to Florida the
war-whoop took the place of welcome and the deadly arrow quickly
followed the gift of corn and fruit. Block-house and palisaded
fort alike became the object of Indian attack and of stubborn
defense, and the hardy troopers and "train-band men" of the
I WOULD HATIlKlt BIC CARRIED OUT DKAD ! " SAID STUATESANT.
colonies repaid the horrors of Indian ambush and massacre with
the equal horrors of burning wigwams, the hunt with bloodhounds
and the relentless slaughter of chieftain, squaw and child.
Added to the terror of Indian hostilities was the dread of " for-
eign " invasion. With France and Si)ain alike claimino- the rio-ht of
I- loo
occupation, the English colonists could never rest in peace. Avhile,
for the same reason, the Dutch settlements in the New Netherlands
(a section extending from the Connecticut to tlu' Mohawk and from
Lake George to Delaware Ba}) were in constant fear of attack by
England. For the New Netherlands this came at last. When in
ir)64 an English fleet sailed through the Narrows and dropped
FOES WITHOUT AND WITHIN.
67
anolior before the little fort at New Amsterdam, the stout and stern
Dutch governor Stuyvesant had no choice but to surrender to a
superior force. "I would rather be carried out dead !" he cried
passionately when he saw his duty. But resistance was useless.
New Amsterdam lowered the flag of Holland ; the English colors
waved above its ramparts and the New Netherlands became " the
Province of New York."
Every war in Europe had its effect in America. The quarrels of
the kings were fought out in the forests and on the shores of the
New World and the wiser treatment of the Indians by the French-
men of Canada always gave
to France the terrible ad-
vantage of Indian allies.
The only exception to this
was the steadfast friendship
toward the Eniilish of the
powerful Indian republic
known as the Iroquois, or
"Five Nations" of Central
New York. Their real In-
dian name Avas Ho-de-no-sau-
nee or " people of the long
house," so called because of
the great buildings in which
they lived. The French cap-
tain and explorer Champlain,
had foolishly quarreled with
them in the early days of
European occupation, and these warlike tribes had never forgiven
France, but remained such firm friends, first of the Dutch and then
of the English occupants of New York State, that they were for
years the strongest bar against the French conquest and occupation
of England's colonies.
CH.WIPLiUN AND THE IISOQUOIS.
68 FOES WITHOUT AXJ> WITHIX.
Til the 01(1 World across the sea Fi'aiice and England had always
quarreled, ever since they liad become France and England ; in
America they quarreled just the same. France said that by the
right of discovery all the land between the Alleghanies and the
Rocky Mountains belonged to her ; England asserted that the land
she had taken on the Atlantic seaboard extended westward to the
Pacific and belonged to her. >So they quarreled about the land.
Then France was Roman Catholic while England was Protestant,
and in tliose days Catholic and Protestant were bitter enemies. So
thev quarreled about religion. But, most of all. France wanted to
control the fisheries of the American coast ; .so did England. France
was determined to " monopolize " (as we say now) the fur-trade of
North America; so was England. So they quarreled about trade.
And when men quarrel with one another over land, religion and
trade, it becomes a pretty serious matter in which neither side will
give in luitil one or the other is defeated for good and all.
This struggle with France really extended from the first capture
of Quebec by the English on the nineteenth of July. 1629, to its
final capture on the thirteenth of September, 1759 — a period of one
hundred and thirty years. The treaty of peace between France
and England, signed in 1763, gave to England all the French pos-
sessions in America east of the Mississippi River, and the bloody
quarrel as to who owned the land came to an end.
The most famous of the Indian Avars of colonial tinu's were what
are known as the Pequot War of 16o7 and King Philip's War in
1675. They were dreadful times of massacre and blood and held all
New England in terror. But the coloni.sts finally pre\ailed. The
Pequot War was brought to a close by the terrible assault on the
village of Sassacus, the Pequot chief, by Captain John Mason and his
men ; King Philip's War was ended by the fearless methods of Cap-
tain Benjamin Church, a famous Indian fighter, and the treacherous
murder of the chieftain Metacomet, whom the white men called
" King Philip."
FOES WITHOUT AND WITHIN. 71
The dates to be especially remembered in the wars with France
are the burning of Schenectady in the pi^ovince of New York by the
French and Indians in 1690, the capture of Port Royal in Nova
Scotia by the English in 1710, the capture of the great fortress of
Louisburg on Cape Breton Island in 1745, General Braddock's de-
feat by the French and Indians on July 9, 1755, the surrender of
Fort William Henry to the French on August 9, 1758, the capture
of Fort Duquesne by the English on November 25, 1758, and the
decisive battle on the Plains of Abraham in 1759 in which both the
rival generals, Montcalm the Frenchman and Wolfe the English-
man, were killed and the victory for England closed the hundred
years of war.
Distressing to the colonists as must have been these foes without,
even more disheartening must have been the foes within. For
troubles in the home are the hardest of all to bear. And almost
from the first days of settlement, such troubles had to be faced. As
we have seen, all sorts of people came over the sea to America,
expecting to be at once successful or rich or at the head of affairs ;
disappointed ambition or imsuccessful endeavors made them cross
and jealous and angry with those who fared better than themselves
and those who were the most discontented, because of their own
shortcomings, were always ready to stir up trouble. Then there
were the questions of ownership and the disputes between colonies
as to how far their limits of possession reached ; and, quite as hotly
contested as any, were the religious quarrels in which the most
earnest and most conscientious were also the most bigoted and vin-
dictive, answering questions with persecution and arguments with
banishment. Thus was Roger Williams, who differed with the min-
isters of Bo.ston, driven out in 1635, but, undismayed, settled in the
Rhode Island wilderness and founded the city of Providence ; thus
was Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, the earliest of women reformers, also
driven out from Boston to meet her death from Indian arrows in
the dreadful New York massacre of 1643. Thus were over-zealous
72
FOES WITHOUT AND WITHIN.
Quakers whipped '' at the cart's tail " by the Dutch rulers of New
Amsterdam and hanged on Boston Common by the Puritan rulers
of Massachusetts Bay ; from this cause the " Papists " as the Roman
Catholics were called, were imprisoned in New York ; the Baptists
were mobbed in Virginia ; Puritans and Papists came to open
warfare in Maryland, and " Dissenters " and '• Churchmen " broke
into fierce conflict in the Carolinas.
From all this you can see that people in those old
days were not as high-minded, as open-hearted, as
liberal or as '• kindly-aifectioned one to another" —
as the Bible has it — as are people to-day. Educa-
tion, freedom and union have made us brothers at
liust. And, when people are bigoted and narrow-
minded, they are apt to be superstitious and cruel.
Our ancestors of two centuries ago were full of the
oddest imaginations as to good and bad luck ; their
fathers had been so before them. They especially
feared the influence of witches. If anything went
wrong an evil spirit, they said, had " bewitched "
things and at once they hunted about, not to see
why things went wrong, but what witch had made
tliem go wrong.
Now so many things went wrong in the early
colonial days, that the poor settlers begun to think
the witches had followed them across the sea, and
when one or two of their ministers — in whom they
had perfect confidence — said that this Avas so, of
course everybody believed it and the hunt for the
witches began. It was a dreadful time. In almost all the colonies
innocent people were persecuted or put to death under the supposi-
tion that they were witches and had worked their evil "spells"
upon other people, or upon cattle, crops and homes. But, harshest
of all, was the time in New England when, from 1C88 to 1692,
J^^il ^
• A WITCH.
FOES WITHOUT AND WITHIN'.
the famous '• Salem witchcraft " persecution terrified all the peo-
ple and led to some dreadful tragedies. Twenty persons were put
to death as " witches " in Salem before the end came, and the
people slowly recovered from what was a disease of the mind
almost as universal as was " the grip " in 1890.
And besides all these troubles of mind and body that faced our
forefathers, were others equally hard
to bear. Pirates infested the coast,
robbing and killing, making travel
by sea unsafe and business ventures
risky, while — so it was asserted —
men of wealth and prominence
among the colonists were partners
in piracy with such freebooters as
Bonnet and Worley in the Carolinas,
Teach or " Blackbeard " in Philadel-
phia and Captain Kidd in New York.
Debts and taxes oppressed the colo-
nists as the cost of Indian wars and
the exactions of the home government ; while, as cruel as anything
in the eyes of a people who were learning to live alone in a great
land, the tyrannical measures of their English riders, who deprived
them of the rights already granted them by charter and sought to
make them simply money-getters for England, wrought them to the
highest pitch of indignation and set them to thinking seriously as
to some means of relief.
But hard knocks and rough ways, often, we say, '• make a
man " of the young fellow who has to undergo them. And so it
proved with the thirteen colonies of England in North America.
The struggle with foes without and foes within made them at last
strong, determined, self-reliant and self-helpful. Bigotry and per-
secution, jealousy and selfishness in time gave way to the more
neighborly feelings that the necessity for mutual protection and
A FIGHT \vmi riKATICS.
74 WORKING TOW J U I> L lllKli T Y.
the growth of mutual desires create, tlie wisdom of a union of in-
terests became more apparent and year by year the colonies came
nearer and nearer together in hopes, in aspiration and in action.
TC-^^ .^ .
CHAPTER IX.
WORKING TOWARD LIBERTY.
1\
T is the restless people who have pushed the world aloug.
If every one had been satisfied with his lot or had Ijeen
williug to put up with things as they were no progress
would have been possible. Home one must "start things."
And, to do this, he who tries to " start things " must be
dissatislied with his surroundings or his prospects; he must be
indicniaut over oppression or injustice or indifference (for not to
take care of people is sometimes fully as bad as to bully and distress
them) ; he must be ambitious to advance himself or his fellow men
and determined to better things if he possibly can.
There were numbers of such people who came over to America ;
there were still more born and brought up here amid all the
influences toward liberty of thought and action that a new land
creates. They and their fathers had left a world wliere titles wi're
esteemed of more worth than character and where there was. as
yet, too little belief in the truth that an English jwet of our day
has put into verse :
" Howe'er it be, it seems to me,
'Tis only noble to be good.
Kind hearts are more tlian coronets,
And simple fiiitli tli.in Norman blood."
WORKING TOWARI) LIBERTY.
75
NEW YOIiK IN 1690.
When boys get away from home and men from the restraints of
government they are very apt to want to strike out for themselves
and they object more than ever
to any attempt of tlie far-away
''power's that be" to tell them
wliat they must do amid their
new surroundings or how they
must do it. So, at an earlj^ day,
men in America began to think
about freedom and to j^lan for a
nobler living than was possible in
the land they had left behind. For, when active, earnest people
are really thrown upon their own resources they are bound to think
and act for themselves.
One of the first of such acts was the Virginia Charter of 1618 —
" the beginning of free government in America." This charter
was a paper secured by the Virginia colonists giving them the privi-
lege of dividing the lands they had come to settle into farms which
each man could own and work for himself. It also gave them a
voice in making their own laws and permitted them to say
who should speak for, or represent them in the " General
■Assembly" of the colony. To us who have never known
anything different this does not seem like a great conces-
sion ; but it was in those days, when no man was really
free. And King James, like the crabbed old tyrant he
was, was very angry at what he called the presumption
of the people. So in 1624, with the help and at the sug-
gestion of some of his very wise but very stupid advisers,
he took away all these rights and made the colony a kingly
" province." But the ideas of personal liberty that the
wise framers of the Virginia Charter had put into that
early paper lived and became, in later years, the basis for the
Constitution and the Government of the United States of America.
ONE OK KING JAMES
ADVISERS.
76
WUMKIXG TOWAJil) LIBERTY.
Tlio next step towcard liberty was a remarkable paper or " com-
pact" drawn up and signed in the cabin of the MayHower by the
Plymouth colonists who, because of their wandeiings, have been
called '' the Pilgrims." We call it remarkable because it was a
bold thing to do in those days when the people had so little to say
abovit their own governing.
As the little vessel lay tossing off Cape Cod on tlie eleventh of
IN THK CAUIN OF THE MAVI-LOWKR.
Novendjer. IGliO, the forty-one men who represented the different
families united in the enterprise of colonization, set their signatures
to the following compact which is said to have been " the first in-
strument of civil government ever subscribed to as the act of the
WORKING TOWABD LIBERTY. 11
whole people." Here it is for you to study out iu all its curious
olfl-time wording, spelling and capitals :
- In y" Name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwriten,
the loj'all subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by y^
Grace of God. of Great Britaine, France & Ireland King, Defender
of y" Faith, etc. Having undertaken, for y" Glorie of God, and ad-
vancemente of y"^ Christian Faith and Honour of our King and conn-
trie, a Voyage to plant y'' first Colonic in y" Northerne part of
Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutually in y*" Pres-
ence of God, and of one another. Covenant & Combine ourselves
togeather into a Civill I)ody Politick, for our better Ordering &
Preservation & Furtherance of y" ends aforesaid ; and by Vertue
hearof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equall lawes,
ordinances. Acts, Constitutions & Offices, from Time to Time, as
shall be thought most meete & convenient for y" generall good of
y" Colonic, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In witnes whereof we have hereunder subscribed our Names at Cap.
Codd y" 11 of November, in y" year of y" Raigne of our Soveraigne
Lord King James, of England, France & Ireland y" eighteenth, and
of Scotland y" fiftie fourth, ano : Dom. 1620."
Nineteen years later — on the fourteenth of January, 1639 — the
" freemen " of the three river towns of Connecticut (Windsor, Hart-
ford and Wethersfield) met at Hartford and drew up what is said to
be the first written constitution in the world. This paper did not
recognize the right of any king or parliament to direct the actions
of the people of Connecticut, but held all jiersons wlio were allowed
a share in the affairs of the colony to be freemen. Under the arti-
cles of this constitution the people of Coimecticut lived for nearly
two hundred years.
The forms of government gradually adopted by the several col-
onies taught men to stand alone and think for themselves. In
Virginia, as we have seen, it was a " General Assembly," or " House
78
WOBKIXG TOWARD LIBERTY.
of Burgesses," as it was more frecjuentlj' callrd. elected l)y the
people. In New England it was what is known as a " township "'
government in which the people of the various towns taxed a)id
governed themselves upon a basis settled once a year by the grown
men of the colonies in a coming together called the " town-meeting."
The town-meeting also elected to oflfice the men who were to manage
public affairs during the year. In South Carolina a popular election
in the several '•parishes'" or cliurch divisions
of the colony selected the mini.ster and ves-
trymen of the cliur(di and the representatives
to the colonial assembly. In Maryland and
Delaware the people of the different sections,
or ■• hundreds" as they were called — (from
the old Roman word for a brotherhood, curia,
whence came century, hundred) assembled in
'• hundred-meetings," enacted by-laws, levied
taxes. apj)ointed committees and helped to
goAern themselves. In Pennsylvania the
oilicers of each local division or ''county"
were elected by the people. In New York
the old svstem of villa2;e assemblies estab-
lished by the early Dutch settlers was con-
tinued by their Engli.sh successors ; this, by
direct vote of the people in a sort of town-
meeting, selected the governing body of the town for the coming
year.
So. you see, the colonists almost from the start learned to govern
themselves and were taught the lesson of freedom. But, above the
people, as the direct representative of the English king, stood the
Royal Go\ernor. He Avas generally a favorite or " pet " of the king ;
he was as a rule good for nothing as a man and worse as a governor ;
and he was sent over to keep the jjcople " up to the mark " in the
service of a king three thousand miles away. The king and his
ONE HI' Tin; VII.I.ACERS.
A LESSON IN LIBERTY.
They began tti thin/,' and talk and act."
WORKIRO TOWARD LIBERTY.
81
<^^.
governor were certain to have ideas and methods altogether differ-
ent from those held by the people, who knew their own needs and
were not slow to speak up for them. Tlie Royal Governor was, in
the opinion of the colonists, foi'ever interfering in matters which he
could not understand and in whicli they were deeply interested.
There was, therefore, a continual quarrel going on between the gov-
ernor appointed by the king and the people he had been sent over
the sea to govern.
This quarrel dated from the early years of colonization, and some-
times led to popular uprisings, to blows and blood. When royal
commissioners were dispatched to Virginia in 1624 to take away
the liberties granted by the "charter," the "Burgesses" boldly
withstood them, and, when the commissioners bribed the clerk of
the Burgesses to give up the records, tiie tempted clerk was put
into the pillory by his associates and had
his ear cut otf . In 1638, and again in 1645,
William Clayborne in Maryland headed an
armed protest against Governor Calvert and
Lord Baltimore ; in 1676 the plucky Vir-
ginia colonist, Nathaniel Bacon, stood out
boldly against the obstinate and tyrannical
Governor Berkeley, and, in what is known as
" Bacon's Rebellion," forced the governor
to terms, Ijut died Ijefore victory was fully
attained, tlie first popular leader in America.
In North Carolina, in 1678, John Culpepper
headed a rising against the high-handed rep-
resentative of the absent Royal Governor, who denied the peojile's
"free right of election ; " in 1688 the enraged colonists of the Caro-
linas rose against their governor, Seth Sothel, took away his author-
ity and banislied him for a year. In 1687 and 1689 the colonists
in Massachusetts and New York broke into open revolt against the
tyranny of the Icing's representatives, imprisoning Governor Andros
MNG JAMES II.
82
WO EKING TOWARD LIBERTY.
in Massachusetts and frightening away thi' lioutenant-goyernor
Nicholson in New York. For. at that time, a revohition in Enghvnd
drove from the throne tlie despised King James (for wliom, when
he was Duke of York, the city and province of New York had been
named) and so mixed up matters in tlie colonies that it was hard to
tell just who had the right to act. Then the people resolved to act
for themselves. In Massachusetts, after putting the Koyal Governor,
Andros, in prison, the people set up a government of their own.
Connecticut saved her much-prized -charter" from seizure by the
king's men \t\ blowinc; out the
lights just as it was to be taken
away, and hiding it in a tree ;
that tree stood as an honored
relic for nearly two hundred
years afterward and was always
known as '• the Charter Oak." In
New York, the people, left Avith-
out a governor, proclaimed their
right to rule themselves and ap-
pointed a patriotic citizen, named
Jacob Leisler, to act as temporary governor. One of the earliest of
American patriots, Jacob Leisler ruled with vigor as the •■ people's
governor." He summoned a popular convention, arranged the first
mayoralty election by the people, made the first step toward union
by attempting a continental congress, and tried to make a bold
strike at the power of France by an invasion of Canada. But he
was disliked by the few " aristocratic " leaders of New York affairs,
because he Avould not do as they wished but preferred to act for the
whole people ; they combined against him, and when the new gov-
ernor appointed by the king arrived Leisler was ai-rested. im]n-is-
oned and hanged for treason — "the first martyr of American
aidependence."
After this, things went '• from bad to worse," so far as the relations
IK I.lOISl.KU S TIMES.
WORKTXG TOWARD LIBERTY.
83
between the people and the royal governors were concerned. There
were grumblings in every colony ; there were open outbreaks in
some, and active opposition in all. The governors themselves had
anvthin"; but a pleasant time. As the years went on the colonists
grew more and more emphatic in their demand for personal liberty.
THE PllOI'I.K AM) THE HCIVAI, (iON KKNcil;.
They saw that the land they lived in was destined to increase in
importance, population and riches, but they knew that unless they
had their " say " this growth would be slow or without direct benefit
to them. Their English rulers granted them, few rights and looked
down upon them as if they were inferiors. The Americans were
84
'■'^TIIE LAST STRAW."
not allowed to inamifacture anything lor their own use or for sale
in England ; the farmers were compelled to send their crops to Eng-
land and ])iirchase what they needed in English markets only.
It is no wonder then that the people grew restless, that they
began to think and talk and act, and that at last they came to the
conclusion that if the King of England denied them the right of liv-
ing honest, honorable, hard-working and upright lives as loyal colo-
nists of England in the land they had settled and cultivated, it was
high time for them to deny the right of the King of England to
have anything whatever to say as to their affairs.
Just then the King of England of that day (whose name and title
were George the Tliird, and who was a i)articularly obstinate and
unaccommodating ruler) gave his consent to certain measures that
roused the people of the thirteen colonies to the greatest indignation ;
they led to results, too, that were as unforeseen to the Americans
as they were surprising to the pig-headed King George of England,
three thousand miles away.
CHAPTER X.
"the last straav.
^^^rrt^S/ -^TIONS as well as boys and men are often all too ready to
'^^— ^J-^i^^f- play the bully. In 1760 the pojnilation of Great Bi'itain
was fully nine millions ; the j^opulation of Great Britain's
thirteen colonies in America was less than two millions.
It is very easy for nine millions to say to two millions,
" You shall I " or " You shall not ! " And they did say it. People
in England talked of the people in America as '• our subjects." Of
course the Americans did not like this ; they felt that they were
'■'^THE LAiST STRAW.
85
A SiMUGGLER.
quite as good and certainly as wide awake as their relatives across
the sea. And they said so, too.
Then the merchants of England felt that they owned
the colonies. The people of America, as we have seen,
could neither buy nor sell except through English
traders ; they could neither receive nor send away goods
except in English vessels ; and the right of trade which
had been allowed them with certain French and Spanish
colonies in and about the West India Islands was threats
ened with withdrawal. The English manufacturers and
traders held, in fact, what we call in these days a monop-
oly of the American trade, and, caring only for what
money they could make, were unwilling to allow the colonists any
chance whatever for profit or trade.
This selfi.sh spirit naturally made the Americans very angry. As
a result certain of the colonists said that if England would not allow
them to trade where they pleased they would do it on the sly — even
though it was against the law. This
was called smuggling, and England tried
to punish the sailors and merchants who
brought into America, unlawfull}", the
goods they had purchased from people
with whom they were not allowed to
trade. But America's coast-line was full
of little creeks and bays into which
the smugglers could sail without beinif
caught and this '• illicit trade," as it was
called, rapidly increased and became very
profitable.
In 1759 the long struo-o-le between
France and England in America was
brought to an end bv the defeat of the French general Mont-
calm on the Plains of Abraham, and the surrender of Quebec in
guai;dinu the poin.
86
''THE LAST straw:'
Canada. The cost of this long-continued strife was frightful. Eng-
lish tax-payers held that as these wars had been for the defense and
benefit of the American colonies, America should pay the bill — or
at least a certain proportion of it — and also the cost of governing
and defending the colonies in the future. But the Americans did
not think this was just. The wars with France, they said, Iiad been
for the benefit and glory of England. The American colonies were
not allowed the right to choose or have any
one to speak for them in the English Par-
liament, saying who should govern them or
how they sliould be governed. " If we can
be represented in the English Parliament,"
they said, " we are willing to be ta.xed for
our support, but we do not propose to pay
for what we do not get."
The British lawmakers, however, were de-
termined. They would not yield to the
desires of the colonists ; they made new
rules as to the commerce and shipping of
the colonies that were harsher than the
former ones ; these were called the Naviga-
tion Acts. Then they ordei-ed that the Cus-
tom House officers in America should have
the right to enter any house at any time
to search for smuggled goods, and, if need be, to call upon the
soldiers for help. This order was called the Writ of Assistance.
Then how angry the colonists were ! For they were English-
men in nature and ancestry and they held to the truth of the old
English declaration, that an Englishman's house is his castle,*
into which no one but himself or his family has the right to
enter uninvited.
Till! niciiT OF .si:ai:cii.
• Tliis was the decision of a famous English justice, Sir Edward Coke, wlio, in 1660, said : " The house of every
one is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defense against injury and violence as lor his repose."
''THE LAtiT I^TRAW.'
87
So when the Enghsh authorities attempted to enforce these Writs
of Assistance tliere was a great uproar ! The colonists had grumbled
and protested at the other burdens laid upon them, but for the Eng-
lish king to claim the right of invading the home was going too far.
They resisted the Writ ; and James Otis, a brilliant Boston lawyer
whose duty it was as one of the lawyers for the Government to de-
fend the service of one of these writs, resigned his office and spoke
in bold and fiery words against the new injustice. "•To my dying
day," he declared in this memorable speech, " will I oppose, with all
the power and faculties God has given me, all such instruments
of slavery on the one hand and villainy on the other." It was
the first outspoken word for liberty, and roused the people to
enthusiasm.
And yet, angered though they were at England's tyranny, the
colonists hesitated to act. England was the mother country and
resistance was rebellion. They were not yet ready to go so far.
They felt that all they should do was — as
the old saying runs — to " grin and bear
it." But they really could not "grin" over
tyranny and they soon determined not to
bear it.
For, one day came the climax. It is the
last straw in the overburdening load, you
know, that breaks the camel's back. And
in the year 1765, on the eighth of March, King George and his
councilors tried to put the last straw on the overloaded back of
the colonial camel. On that day the English Parliament passed
the measure now famous in history as the Stamp Act.
This celebrated act was but one among a number of measures
adopted by Parliament for taxing the American colonies, but it was
particularly objectionable. It required that all newspapers, almanacs,
marriage certificates, pamphlets and legal documents of every
description should be upon stamped paper or have pasted upon them
G^
^X
3
^^Mfj/
'X'S)
^M^y^
^^
THE HATED STAMPS.
88 " TV/JS" LAST STllAW."
stamps furnished by the Enghsh Government and inn-ohased from
the agents appointed to sell them in the colonics. It was consid-
ered as the '• entering wedge " for other tyrannioal acts. '• If the
king can tax our trade." the colonists said, "why not our lands?"
And from Maine to Georgia the cry arose, " No taxation without
representation." People do not object to pay taxes when they
tliemselves order the taxes and are benefited by the money that
comes from such taxation ; but to be taxed without a word to say in
the matter and to be forced to pay, no matter how objectionable the
method and manner of collection, makes people iingry. And so the
jieople of America broke out into loud and rebellious words. James
Otis in Massachusetts and Patrick Henry in Virginia, and other
speakers of prominence and influence aroused their hearers to a
pitch of enthusiasm ; local rivalries were forgotten in the general
indignation ; the demand for a union of the colonies in opposition
to the tyranny of England was universal ; acts of violence and
insubordination against the stamp agents and the English gover-
nors and officials were committed in every colon}^ ; patriotic asso-
ciations called the " Sons of Liberty " were formed ; and on ths
seventh of October. 1765, a Colonial Congress, consisting of dele-
gates from nine of the thirteen colonies, assembled at New York
and adopted three protests against taxation — one of these they
called a " Declaration of Rights," one "An address to the King,"
and one a " Memorial to Parliament."
This wide-spread opposition on the part of the colonies, the
refusal of the Americans to buy or to use the stamps, their agree-
ment with one another not to import, buy, use or wear anv article
of English manufacture until the Stamp Act was " repealed " — that
is, declared by the English Parliament to be no longer in force —
exerted .so great an influence in England, especially upon the mer-
chants who saw that this stand of the Americans would cause them
to lose both trade and money, that in 1766 after much debate and
many bitter words, the English Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.
" THE LAST ST II A W:
89
The result was received l>y the colonists with the greatest joy;
but when they learned that, in place of the Stamp Act other meas-
ui'es had been adojited for raising money from the colonies by
taxation, witliont granting them representation or securing their
i'i;L;rAi:iNi_i Fui; " i]iimi;si'i-n clothes
English
consent, the people again protested. Thereupon the
government sent soldiers across the sea to see that the tax laws
were enforced and ordered that the people should pay for the board
90
''THE LAST STRAW.''
and loclg'ing' of the soldiers who were sent over to force them into
submission.
This was too much. New York refused to provide for the sohliers
sent tt) that proN inoe and Pai'Hament. as a punishment, took awa_y
the coh)ny's right to liokl its own legishiture. Massachusetts
urged tlie colonies to call another congress for seU-preservation and
Parliament ordered Massachusetts to recall its action. When the
UNWELCOME LODGERS.
colony refused its legislature was dissolved and four regiments of
soldiers were sent to Boston to keep the town in order.
This was in 1768. From this time on things grew worse and
worse. The people hated tlie soldiers as the representatives of
England's tyranny. The soldiers already treated the people as
rebels. From words they came to blows. On the eighteenth of
''THE LAST straw:' 91
January, 1770, the citizens of New York made the first stand against
the king-'s troops in a street fight known as the " Battle of Golden
Hill " and on the fifth of March, in the same year, an iniexpected
fight iu King Street, Boston, developed into the bloody- brawl that
has since been called •' the Boston Massacre."
Everybody was aroused. It looked very much us if war was at
hand. But Parliament, fearing that it had perhaps gone too far,
took off all the taxes save one — that on tea.
But this was adding insult to injury. The American colonies
were not making their firm stand to save money but to gain their
riohts. It did not matter what was taxed or how much it was taxed.
What they resisted was any tax without the right of representation.
They refused to buy tea. They refused even to drink it ; they
drank, instead, tea made from sage or raspberry-leaves, or other
American plants. New York and Philadelphia sent back the tea-
ships unloaded. Charleston stored the tea in damp cellars and
spoiled it. In Boston the British men-of-war blocked the way and
refused to let the tea-ships out of the harbor. A great public meet-
ing in the Old South Church requested the Governor to let the tea-
ships go back and, when he refused, fifty men disguised as Indians
rushed to Griffin's Wharf, boarded the tea-ships and smashed and
flung overboard three hundred and forty-two chests of tea. This
occurred on the night of the sixteenth of December, 1773, and has
ever since been known as the " Boston Tea Party."
Enraged at this open defiance Parliament ordered the port of
Boston closed — that is. said that no ships could go in or out — and
the business of the town was well-nigh ruined. This was called the
Boston Port Bill. The other colonies stood up for Boston ; they
sent it aid and supplies and cheering words and, one after another,
the thirteen colonies agreed to neither buy nor sell to England (to
'• boycott " it, in fact, as we say to-day) and to join in a general
congress.
This congress of the thirteen colonies — since known as the First
02
THE LAST straw:'
Continental Congress — assembled at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia
on the fifth of September. 1774. and petiti<med the king and Parlia-
ment of England to restore the rights thev had withdrawn. Rut it
was of no use. King and parliament were stubborn.
The war is inevitable, and let it come I I repeat it. sir. let it
A \vi:ak-kni-.i;d tatukit and iiku .si.v t i i
come ! " cried Patrick Henry in Virginia in that famous speech which
ever}' American boy, and, I hope, every American girl knows by
heart. The vk^ar was inevitable. It had come at laist.
THE FIRST BLOW FOR FREEDOM.
93
CHAPTER XI.
THE FIRST BLOW FOR FREEDOM.
fctv
*^:';'%S
EBELLION is the open or armed resistance to lawfnl au-
thority. When that resistance is successful it is Revolu-
tion. You see, now, why we call our war for independence
the American Revolution. It was a successful rebellion
against English authority, and completely changed — or
•■ revolutionized" — the government of the people of America.
There were many dark and bitter days before the rebellion became
a I'e volution, but the story of the struggle is full of interest. You
have already seen how the trouble grew, as, passing from objection
to protest and from protest to insubordination, it developed at last
into open defiance, resistance and war.
When Samuel Adams of Boston (the "'prophet of independence"
as he has been called) declared in the Old South
Church " this meeting can do nothing more to save
the country " and cheered on the make-believe In-
dians to the '• Boston Tea Party," the American
Revolution began. From Maine to Georgia people
began to talk of war, and when the English Par-
liament rejected the proposals of the Continental
Congress of 1774, the spirit of rebellion wa-^ ready
to burst into a flame.
It takes but a spark to set the tinder ablaze, and
the spark came at last. The cabinet of King-
George declared as " traitors and rebels " all who
were disloyal to the king; war-ships and soldiers were dispatched
to Boston which was declared to be " the hot bed of rebellion ; "
-.v.Mri:i. Ai)A.M>
94
THE FIRST BLOW FOR FREEDOM.
and the Royal Governor, General Gaue. was (irdcrcd to seize or
destroy all munitions of war held by the eolonists and to lire upon
the people should he deem it necessary.
Acting luider these orders General Gage seized the arms and
powder stored in the old powder house on Quarry Hill (in the pres-
ent city of Somerville) three miles
from Boston and took secret meas-
ures to seize the stores at Salem and
at C()UC(M'd.
Now as these stores and munitions
of war were the ])roi)erty of the
province of Massachusetts it was held
that the king had no right to take
them and after the seizure at Somer-
ville the provincial congress — as the
•• rebel " legislature of the province
called itself — determined to save
these stores for its own need. A
nu)l) of indignant patriots frightened
away the small force sent to Salem
and some one* told the Americans of the secret designs upon the
stores at Concord and the two signal lanterns hung in the belfry
of the Old North Church of Boston gave warning of the plans of
the British.
Then it was that Paul Revere made his famous night ride from
Boston to Concord to arouse the farmers- against the British designs.
Of course you all know Mr. Longfellow's splendid poem •• Paul
Revere's Ride," telling how this brave '• scout of liberty " spread
the news. Just read it again, right here, to refresh your memory
and then you will understand how excited the people were and how
the '• minute men " from all the country round caught up their
TAIT, liK\El!|-.
• It is siii.l W\M Ihis " some one " was nn less a povson tliau Mrs. Ciagc. Ihc wif>: ol tlu- U.iyal Ciovcrnor. She
was an Aiiiciicau woman .-mil said to be " IVieuiUy to liberty."
THE fje;st blow for freedom.
95
arms and hurried to the highway that led from Boston to Concord.
These " minute men " were colonial miHtia men pledged to be in
readiness for any call to arms, and prepared to march when the
warning came — "at a minute's notice." They came; and on Lex-
ington Common and by the North Bridge at Concord they struck
the first blow for liberty.
"You kuow the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars tired and fled ;
How the farmers gave them ball for ball
From behind each fence and farm-yard wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to tire and load."
Eight hundred " red-coats," as the British soldiers were called,
marched from Boston on the eighteenth of April, 1775. When
they reached Lexington Common half an hour before sunrise on the
nineteenth of April between sixty and seventy minute men wei-e
drawn up '-just north of the meeting-house" to
resist their advance.
" Disperse, ye villains ! ye rebels, disperse ! lay
down your arms! Why don't you lay down yovu-
arms and disperse ? " called out Major Pitcairn, the
leader of the British advance.
The minute men of Lexington were sixty against
eight hundred. But they, were not there to disperse. " Too few
to resist, too brave to fly," as Mr. Bancroft says of them, thev
simply stood their ground.
" Fire ! " shouted Pitcairn, and under the deadly discharge of
British muskets seven of the '• rebels " fell dead and nine were
wounded. Then the British marched on to Concord.
But their leader Colonel Smith saw that the country was roused
and that he should have to fight his way back. He sent at once to
90
THE FIRST BLOW FOJt FREEDOM.
Boston for leinforcemeiits and nearly two thirds of all the "red-
coats " in tlie town were liurricd off to the help of their comrades.
Meanwhile these comrades had marched on to Concord. There
they found but few of the '' stores" they had been sent to destroy.
Two cannons were spiked in the tavern yard ; sixty barrels of (lour
were broken in pieces ; five hundred jjounds of ball were thrown
into the mill pond ; the liberty pole was cut down and some private
houses were broken into. That was all. A hundred or more sol-
diers were sent to guard the North Biidge across the Concord River
and, while there, the minute men of Acton, led on by the school-
master, marched down the hill to
the bridge. The British soldier.s,
seeing the colonists coming on, be-
gan to tear up the planks of the
bridge ; the Americans broke into
a run ; the British fired and the
sclioolmaster fell dead. Then
Major Buttrick of Concord cried
out, " Fire, fellow soldiers ! " and
" Fire, fire, fire ! " echoed his men.
They fired ; two of the British fell ;
the rest turning ran toward the
main body of the "invaders" and
tlie minute men held the bridge.
That was the battle of Concord!
For the first time the long-suffer-
ing American colonists had turned upon their tormentors and there,
by the ilowing Concord River, as Mr. Emerson say.s, they
^^^^
iMi: iii;ii)iii'; at c'dxcoI!!).
' Fired tlio sliot heard round the vvorhl."
Colonel Smith and his eight hundred red-coats turned toward
home. From everv iioint the minute men hurried to the highway
^
THE FIRST BLOW FOR FREEDOM.
99
to " chase them back." At Lexington, nearly worn out, they met
Lord Percy's reinforcement, twelve hundred strong. He and his
men had marched from Boston to the tune of '• Yankee Doodle " in
contempt of the colonists. But they soon " changed their tune,"
and when they turned for home
the march back to Boston was but
a sorry race for life.
The whole country round was
now fully roused. Minute men
came from every direction. Lin-
" IT liAIXEI) l;|.;iiELS.
followed
up
tl
le re-
ing the highway they fired " from
fence and farm-yard wall," while
the very clouds, so the bewildered
British declared, " seemed to rain
rebels." Back hurried the red-
coats defeated, dispirited, beset.
Like bull-dogs the aroused farmers
Avitli flint-lock musket and old '• king's arm
treat, barking and biting to the last, until, just after sunset, the
straggling red-coats escaped across Charlestown Neck and were safe
beneath the protecting batteries of Boston town.
It had been a dreadful day for them. Two hundred and seventy-
three men were either killed, wounded or missing ; of the Ameri-
cans eighty-eight had been killed or wounded. But, greater than
the loss in men had been the fatal mistake of the troops of the king.
The war had come at last ; they were the aggressors ; they, too,
had been the chief sufferers. All hope of avoiding a bloody quar-
rel was now past. The news of the "Battle of Lexington." as it
has ever since been called, spread like a prairie fire. From all
New^ England militia and minute men hastened to the aid of their
countrymen. The people rose in war, and before the first of May,
1775, the king's soldiers w^ere securely shut. up in Boston by an
armj^ of nearly twenty thousand " rebels."
100
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
The fi'\st })lou- for lihertv had been a decisive one. " We determine
to die or be free," the Massachusetts Congress wrote, after the day
of Lexington, to the people of EngUmd. And when swift riders
carried the news of the fight north, west and south, the patriot col-
onists from the Green Mountains to the Carolina rivers and the
Kentucky borders sprang to arms and echoed the stern words of
Massachusetts : " We determine to die or be free."
CHAPTER XII.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
HE colonists could now take no backward step. And there
seemed to be no desire to. They were in earnest and they
acted as if they were. The news of the fight at Concord
and Lexington roused the patriots in other parts of the
land. People began to talk of separation from England ;
they Ijegan to plan for independence.
And yet the leaders moved cautiously. They did not know tlicir
own strength ; they only knew that the people seemed determined
not to be bidlied by England. So they summoned another Congress
to determine on peace or war.
It would l)e an unequal contest. On one side Avas England witii all
the power and all the advantage of a trained and iniconquered
amiy ; on the other was a handful of feeble settlements, without
army, money, standing or preparation for war, strung along an un-
defended stretch of broken coast line, the deep sea to the east and
to the west only the trackless forests and hordes of hostile Indians.
But men will dare to do much in defense of their rio-hts. Lex-
ington strengthened their arm. Following fast upon the battle of
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
101
775.
Lexington came the bold move by which on the tenth of May, 1
Ethan Allen and his one hundred Gi-een Mountain Boys captured
the British post of Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, demand-
ing the surrender of the fortress " in the name of the Great Jehovah
and the Continental Congress ; " and from that day the war fever
grew greatly.
Around the beleaguered British in Boston lay the patriot army,
really without a leader, but determined to hold the regulars at bay
or drive them into the sea. Reinforce-
ments came to the army of the king and
now, twelve thousand strong, its officers
and sympathizers (called '* tories ") de-
clared that the rebels were but a pack of
blusterers and would not fight.
Would they not? This question was
speedily answered. On the morning of
the seventeenth of June, 1775, the British
generals finding that the " Yankee
Doodles " were fortifying one of the
Charlestown hills, sent three thousand
red-coats across the Mystic with orders
to drive off the rebels. They did, but at
what a cost. Three times they charged
up the hill to where Colonel Prcscott
and his thousand men awaited the attack.
Twice were they sent reeling down the slope, baffled by the deadly
fire of the Americans. With the third volley the ammunition of
the Americans gave out and the British troops finally carried the
hill after a stubborn hand-to-hand fight. The Battle of Bunker
Hill was won. But ten hundred and fifty-four in killed and
wounded was the cost to the British of that doubtful victory, and it
proved to all the world that the Americans would fight. From that
da}' the British troops never cared to storm a '' rebel " earthwork.
102 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
All that the Americans now needed was a leader. And he was
speedily forthconiing. The North had opened the Revolution ; the
South should give it a leader. On the very day of the Battle of
Bunker Hill — the seventeenth of June, 1775 — the Second Conti-
" THE JiEBELS AUE I'OUTIKYING ISIXKEI! llll.l.."
nental Congress, in session at I'hiladelphia. voted to raise and e(juip
an army of twenty thousand men, and elected Colonel George
Washington of ^'^irginia as " generalissimo " or commander-in-chief.
In all the land no better choice could have been found. George
Washington had been trained from early youth to leadership and
direction. He was as strong of character as he was noble of .soul ;
THE AMERICAN EEVOLUTION. 103
he was patient, persistent, fair-minded, generous and brave ; his
strength of will was inspiring, his power of self-control remarkable,
and he was absolutely truthful. He was a natural leader. As a
bo)' he was captain of the company of small Virginians he drilled
and marshaled. At sixteen he was a surveyor and ■' roughed it "
in the Indian country ; at twenty he was a major in the king's ser-
vice ; at twenty-five he was commander-in-chief of the Virginia
forces. It was he who fired the fii'st shot in the French wars of
1754, led the attack at Great Meadows, and by his valor, alone,
saved the terrible defeat of the English general Braddock from be-
coming a massacre. He knew the weakness as well as the strength,
the endurance as well as the independence of the colonial soldier,
and no man was better suited to lead the troops of revolution to
victory, to guide them in skillful retreat or to save them from the
disgrace of surrender. Other generals in the Revolutionary army
were as brave, others as self-sacrificing, others as skillful as he, but
not one combined all the excellencies that go toward makins; a
great soldier except George Washington. His record as a leader
alike in victory and defeat, was such that students of the art of war
accord to General Washington the rank of a '' great commander."
On the third of July, 1775, Washington assumed command of the
American army drawn up to receive him on the Commons of Cam-
bridge, and his headquarters were in the old Craigie House, still
standing, and equally cherished by all Americans as the military
home of Washington the soldier, and the peaceful home of Long-
fellow the poet. He declined to receive any pay for his services,
went at once to work to organize his army of fourteen thousand un-
disciplined militia men and kept General Gage and his red-coats so
tightly locked up in Boston town, that they were at last forced to
run away from the city by sea. This they did on the seventeenth
of March, 1776. Washington and the victorious Continental troops
marched into the city and Boston's long slavery was over.
On the first of January, 1776, the new flag of the Revolution was
104 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
raised over the American ciiinp on Prospect Hill ; and on the fonrtli
of July, 1776, the ContinL-ntal Congress assembled in Independence
Hull in the city of Philadelphia declared the thirteen United Col-
onics to be "free and independent States" — that they were "ab-
solved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all politi-
cal connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and
ou<j!;ht to be totallv dissolved." This was the immortal '' Declaration
of Independence," and ever since that memorable act the fourth of
July has been celebrated as the birthday of the United States of
America.
But to declare a thing is not always to <1() it. The Declaration
was but the first step toward independence. Much was to be at-
tempted, much suffered, much lost and won before the United States
were really free and independent. For nearly seven years, from the
nineteenth of April, 1775, to the nineteenth of October. 1781 —
from the first blood at Lexington to the last lilood at Yorktown —
did the unequal conflict rage before the King of England, his coun-
cilors and his people would acknowledge themselves beaten by
the spirit of liberty that had grown up across the sea. Then at last
they reluctantly gave in. A treaty of peace with the new '■ nation "
was signed at Paris on the third of September. 1783, and on the
twenty-fifth of November following, the British soldiers evacuated
the city of New York and Liberty triumphed.
It had been a stubborn fight between determined men. When
once the war was really entered \\\mw and the evacuation of Boston
showed the Kintr of Entiland and his advisers that it was to be
fought in earnest, the British leaders sought by every means to
secure success. They sent large armies to America, swelling their
ranks by hiring for money thousands of European troops called
Hessians; they tried in every way to frighten and overawe the
steadfast " rebels," and gave honors and reward to those Americans
who remained loyal to the king and who were called " tories."
They sought to occupy the chief centers of population North and
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIOX.
105
South and to achieve the conquest of the coimtry from these points.
But all to no purpose. With a less number of troops, poorly armed,
poorly fed and scantily clothed, and with all the chances of war
GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON.
against him, General Washington so planned and fought that, inch
by inch, he w^on the disputed territory from the over-confident
red-coats, and brought victory at last to the Continental forces.
100
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
After its beginning at Boston, tlie Revolutionary War may be di-
vided into three periods of fighting : the struggle for the Hudson,
the struggle for the Delaware and the struggle for the
Carolinas.
Defeated at the Battle of Long Island, Washing-
ton i-etreated throuo-h New Jersey and won the battle
of Trenton ; defeated at Germantown he retreated
into the gloom of that sorry winter of Valley Forge,
coming out in the spring to fight and win the Battle
of Monmouth. He drove the British from Boston; he
foi-ced them from Philadelphia ; his planning relieved
Charleston and the Carolinas, and finally brought
about the British surrender at Yorktown. It was
Washington's persistent refusal to stay beaten but to
come up again and again to what seemed a useless
fifjlit that drew to his side the o-allant xouno; French-
man the Marquis de Lafayette, and won for the new
United States the alliance and aid of France. On the
thirteenth of January, 1778, a treaty of alliance with
France was signed, and from that date the success
of the revolt was never doubtful.
The dark days of the war were the defeats at Quebec, w-here the
a'allant Monto-omerv was slain while storminy; the British citadel ;
at Long Island and White Plains, where the raw troops
of Washins;ton were no match for the British reo'u-
lars ; at Brandywine and Germantown which lost ^^^^Pk / FrencK
Philadelphia to the Americans: and at Charleston '^^W 1 c§°' '''*'"'
and Camden which for a time '• wiped out "' the south-
ern arm}' of the patriots. Darker still were the
dreary days at Valley Forge when all seemed lost
indeed ; the hateful treason of Benedict Arnold, one
of Washington's trusted generals, and the days, when by the sel-
fish combination of enemies in the armv and in the Congress (in
A "CONTIXKXTAI.
One
°f
the
THE AMERICAN ItEVOLiriON.
107
what is known as "the Conway Cabal"), General Washington
was very nearly forced from his position as commander of the
American army.
But the bright days are what we most thankfully remember;
they were what gave strength to American endeavor and made for
the cause of liberty friends across the sea. As Lexington and Con-
cord and Bunker Hill are names to be forever cherished so, too, are
the names of Trenton where through icy perils the patriots pushed
on to victory ; of Princeton which saved New Jersey ; of Saratoga
which saw the surrender of the pompous and boast-
ful British general Burgoyne who had declared that
with ten thousand men he would " promenade
through America ; " of Stony Point where, borne
on the shoulders of his men, the wounded leader,
dear to all Americans as "Mad Anthony Wayne,"
charged into the British fort and won it at the point
of the bayonet; of Fort Sullivan in Charleston Har-
bor where the brave General Moultrie " held the
fort," and Sergeant Jasper, in the face of the enemy,
rescued the fallen flag and hoisted it again over the
battered ramparts ; and, last of all, of Yorktown
where on the nineteenth of October, 1781, Cornwallis and the
British army surrendered as prisoners of war to Washington the
American and the Frenchman Rochambeau.
And in this record of the fight for liberty we must not forget the
struggle on the sea. The American colonies had no navv, but they
had man}- plucky sailors and men who loved salt water. Early in
the struggle privateers were sent out — that is, small vessels fitted
out by private persons but authorized by the Congress to annoy
and capture British ships and supplies. Soon the privateers were
followed by men-of-war and the names of Captains Biddle and
Manly, Mugford and Read, Weeks and Conyngham and Whipple
are worthy to stand in memory beside the heroes of Lexington and
ANTHONY WAYNE.
108
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Bunker Hill, of Stony Point and Valley Forgo. But, chief of al!
the Revolutionary sea-fighters, is John Paul Jones, the eaptaiu of
the Bonhoiame Richard and conqueror of the British man-of-war
Serapis. Lashed together, the two ships waged a fearful struggle
for hours ; when the British captain thought the " Yankee pirate "
was conquered he shouted across to him : " The
Richard ahoy ! Have you struck your colors ?" and
Ijaek came the valiant answer of the plucky ■' Yankee
pirate," "I have not yet begun to light." Then
lie really did begin and did not sto]) until the Serapis
struck her colors.
The American Revolution was a stubljorn and
gallant fight against tyranny; it was the answer
of those who Avould be free men to those who .sought
to keep them slaves. From it we may all. young and
old alike, learn why we .should persevere if we feel
that we are right even when the times seem darke.st
and things are going wrong ; and, more than all, by it we are
taught that whatever is worth having is worth striving for.
Liberty could not have come to America without the struggle and
blood of our forefathers ; and their endeavors and their sacrifices
preached the noblest of sermons and .showed to a watching world
the real worth of liberty.
JOHN PAUL JONKS.
THE MEN OF THE HE VOLITION.
109
CHAPTER XIII.
THE MEN OF THE REVOLUTION".
— ^jHEN 3'ou watch a liase-ball game what is it that interests
you most through it all — the players or the result of their
pliiy ? Do you not soon forget this or that boy in whose
good work you place so much confidence and think more
of the score that is being made or Avonder whether the great
playing of your favorite nine is really going to give them the vic-
tory ? It is so in life. Acts are more than actors ; principles are
more then men. What a city, a State or a nation is striving for is
of more importance than the leaders in the struggle or the great
men whose names we reverence and applaud.
And yet we are all hero-Avorshipers and love to linger
over the names and deeds of those who have contrib-
uted to the success of great principles, the results of
noble deeds. For this reason it is well for us, at this
point, to look over the years of struggle that led the
thirteen English Colonies of North America " through
night to light " and laid the foundation of the United
States of America.
They were of three classes : the agitators, the organ-
izers, the fighters. The agitators, or those who pre-
23ared the minds of the people for the struggle, began
their work years and years before Lexington or the
Declaration of Independence were thought of. These
were the men who saw that kingly poAver and the peo-
ple's will Avould not Avork together and Avho resisted, hy Avord or
deed, the attempts of king or gOA^ernor to cut away the rights of the
FRENCH'S STATUE OF
THE MINUTE M^US'.
llu
TtlE MEN OF TUB REVOLUTION.
pe()]»k'. Siidi men were Niithiuiiel Bacon, and John Culpepper and
Jacob Lei^iler, wliose " rebellions ' have been referred to in earlier
chapters; such, too, were John Wise, the minister of IpsAvich in
Massachusetts who, a hundred years before the Revolution, boldly
preached against '• taxation without representation " ; and Peter
Zenger, the New York printer, who in his lu^wspaper. in 1733.
boldl_y stood out against king and governor; and Andrew Hamilton,
the Philadelphia hxwyer who, defending Zenger, spoke so eloquently
for what we now call " the liberty of the
press," that the printer was acquitted and
the governor dared not again accuse him.
These are but a few among the " fore-
rumiers of freedom " whose names should
be held in remembrance ; to them, and to
others like them who left their mark upon
our colonial history, was due much of that
manly and outspoken ' desire to be self-
supporting that led to the later struggle
for independence — a desire founded upon
that noble utterance which is belie\ed to
have been made by Dr. Benjamin Frank-
lin : '• Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to
God.-
Of this remarkable man Americans have
ever been proud. And well they may be.
Benjamin Franklin vras a poor Boston boy, born in IT'lli. who
educated himself, learned the printer's trade and, when seventeen
years old, went to Philadelphia where he gradually rose to posi-
tion, influence and fame. An editor, an author, a ])hilosopher.
an inventor, a statesman and a patriot, Franklin made the title of
"an American" known and honored in Europe, and, by his wisdom,
his eloquence and his influence, stood foremost among those great
men of the Revolution to whom we <>ive the name of the or<z:an-
IJK. lil.N.JAiVlIN FUANKUN.
THE MEN OF THE REVOLUTION. Ill
izers. Largely tlirough his exertions was the king of Engh^nd
lirought to repeal the hated " Stamp Act ; " he was one of the com-
mittee to draft the Declaration of Independence ; he was sent as
Ambassador to France and gained the French aid that helped the
Revolution to final success ; he was one of the makers of the treaty
of peace with England and one of the framer.s of the Constitution
of the United States. Tlie young •' tramp-printer," who in 1723
entered Philadelphia, poor, friendless, hungry and hopeful, died in
that city in 1790 at the age of eighty-four, its most honored citizen
and the one American who, to-day, shares in all the world the glorv
and renown of Washington.
Washington and Franklin have, indeed, been the two names that
from the days of Revolution, have been associated as the greatest
leaders in that historic struggle. But even Franklin's fame halts
far beneath that of George Washington. In the minds of men as
well as of boys the successful fighter is a much greater hero than
the agitator or the organizer. We like to see a man who never
knows when he is whipped ; who has what we call " grit ; " who
accepts defeat without a murmur, but rather as ,a spur to new
effort. But Washington had far moi-e than this. He was as strong
of character as he was of arm ; as noble of soul as he was firm of
purpose. His abilities as a soldier were equalled by his qualities as
a state.'^man ; and from the day when, beneath the historic elm on
Cambridge Common, he took command of the Continental army to
the day when he rode into New York at the heels of the last depart-
ing British regiment, he never faltered in his fidelity to the cause
of freedom, or lost faith in its final and complete success.
But tliough the names of Washington and Franklin lead all others
in the story of the Men of the Revolution there are those linked
with them to whom equal honor and equal praise are due. On this
roll we read the name of James Otis, who made the first eloquent
appeal for liberty and was branded by the king's men as " the grea'
incendiary of New England ; " Samuel Adams — called " the last o
112
THE MEN OF THE HE VOLUTION.
the Puritans," — who, poor but incorruptible, '-aimed steadily at
the good of his country and the best interests of mankind " and did
more than any one else to •• put the revolution in motion ; '" Patrick
Henry, the " man of the people," whose fiery elo(iuence ami daunt-
less courage roused Virginia to stand side by side with Massachusetts
ui.N Ai»\\i> i'i;i 'i'ni,^\ i.Ni.
nil. i.i.oiam > i ni laii.
in the struggle for freedom : '•• I know not what course others may
take," he cried, "but as for me. give me liberty or give me death;"
John Adams, wise, far-seeing, statesmanlike, the iuspirer of our
"Fourth of Julv " celebrations, who, years before the Revolution,
* " It will be celebrated by sticceeding generatious," said John Adams, *' from iine end of the continent to the
other, a* the great anniversary festival."
THE MEX OF THE REVOLUTION. 113
believed in the great misfiion of America and in the early days
of the struggle, replied to a friend who warned him against brav-
ing the power of England : " swim or sink, live or die, siu'vive
or perish with my countrj' is my unalterable determination ; " John
Hancock. President of the Continental Congress, proscribed as a
traitor by George the Third — dignified, impartial, quick in action,
determined in purpose, who urged the people of Boston, " Not only
pray, but act ; if necessary fight and even die for the prosperity
of our Jerusalem," and who, when he put his bold signature to the
Declaration of Independence, said, laughingly : " There ; John Bull
can read my name without spectacles. Now let him double the
price on my head, for tliis is my defiance ; " Christopher Gadsden,
the boldest in denouncing British oppression, the first to speak for
American independence, " whose unselfish love of country," says
Mr. Bancroft, " was a constant encouragement to his countrymen
never to yield;" Thomas Jefferson, the greatest Democrat, the
sworn foe to aristocracy and kingly power, the author of the Dec-
laration of Independence, and through that immortal paper, " the
beginner of a new age of the world;" John Jay, a statesman and a
patriot of elevated motives, and the purest character who, before
the struggle begun, took a bold stand for America's rights and
wrote in his address to the British people : " Know, then, that we
consider ourselves, and do insist that we are and ought to be,
as free as our fellow-subjects in Great Britain and that no power
on earth has a right to take our property from us without our
consent;" Koger Sherman, a farmer and a shoemaker, a jurist
and a statesman, signer of the Declaration and ''one of the great
men of his time," who set the bells of New Haven a-ringing as
he declared that " the parliament of Great Britain can rightfully
make laws for America in no case whatever;" Robert Morris, the
•'moneyed man" and financier of the Revolution, who, in 1777,
declared that Washington was "the greatest man on earth," and
who, through faith in Washino-ton's ability as well as in the cause
lU
THE MEN OF THE liEVOLVTION.
of freedom, when hope wats lowest and Auiericau credit was dead,
pledged his own fortune and, on the promise of his own name,
hoii'owed the money to carry on the war; Richard Henry Ia'c,
who, quickly repenting his application for the post of collector
under the hated Stamp Act, became instead that Act's most vehe-
ment foeman, introduced into the Continental Congress the first reso-
lution looking toward independence, and wrote in the address to
the British people : " On the sword,
therefore, w'e are compelled to
rely for protection. Of this at
least we are assured, that our
struggle will be glorious, our suc-
cess certain ; since even in death
we shall find that freedom which
in life you foi-bid us to enjoy ; "
Henry Laurens, the incorruptible,
in whose Charleston office bo^'s
were trained to habits of iionesty,
integrity and industry in business,
and who, kept a strict prisoner in
the Tower of London, resisted all
attempts of the British govern-
ment to shake his fortitude or
purchase his patriotism ; and, not
to extend the list, Peyton Ran-
dolph, wlio, though attorney-general for tlie king, when he "saw
the right," resigned his office and its rewards and stood out boldly
for justice, for resistance and for independence.
These were among the leaders in council and congress. And in
the field were others equally worthy remembrance — Joseph War-
ren, "who fell at Bunker Hill," and who, though president of the
Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, refused the conmiand of its
army of minute men and continentals at that famous battle, pre-
1 IlK LIBEKTY liKLL.
(.Vo"' in Independence Ihlll-, PliUafh'ljihia.)
IN MAKION S CAMP.
'Francis Marion called by the baffled British the ' Swamp Fox.'"
THE MEN OF THE REVOLUTION. 117
ferring to serve as a volunteer and saying to one Avho warned him
to be cautious : " I know that I may fall, but where is the man who
does not think it glorious and delightful to die for his country ? "
Richard Montgomery, the intrepid leader of a forlorn hojae, but for
whose death in the very front of his assaulting line, the " rebel de-
feat " at Quebec might have proved an important victory ; Nathan
Hale, the " martyr," young, brilliant, enthusiastic, who, condemned
to die as a spy by his British captors, only regretted that he had
but one life to lose for his countrv ; Alexander Hamilton, the boy
captain, the friend and aide-de-camp of Washington, the fiery young
advocate of libertj-, who replied to the taunt of the tories that the
colonists would soon quarrel and disagree : " I please myself with
the flattering prospect that they will, ere long, unite in one indis-
soluble chain ; " Nathaniel Greene, " the victorious," who saved the
South by his able generalship and crippled liis own estate to feed
and clothe his soldiers ; Francis Marion, the borderer, called by the
baffled British " the Swamp Fox," whose name is revered by all
Americans as that of " one of the purest men, the truest patriot,
and the most adroit general that American history can boast ; "
Philip Schuyler, the general who could be true even under mijust
suspicion, the real conqueror of Burgoyne, the unselfish soldier of
whom Daniel Webster declared that he stood scarcely below Wash-
ino-ton in the services he rendered his countrv.
But where can we stop ? The list of American heroes in camp
and council is long enouc;jh to fill a volume, while those who fonu'lit
in the ranks and those who suffered for the cause at home — mi-
known heroes whose glorious deeds have never been recorded —
couid their names but be collected, would make a roll of heroism,
limited only by the number of American patriots. For all were
heroes then. Though some at times were timid and some at times
lost faith ; though traitors like Benedict Arnold and jealous self-
seekers like Charles Lee well-nigh wrecked the cause of liberty and
made the heart of its great leader to bleed and smart; though sec-
118
THE MEN OF THE REVOLUTION.
tioiis at times were "mad" with .sections and men "put out" with
men, so that the progress of revolution was almost stopped hy jeal-
ousies and disputes ; thougii money ran low and credit gave out and
suffering and privation led to weakness anil to loss ; though defeat
dulled the zeal of patriots and the cruelties of war tried the courage
of the bravest; jet still, through it all, the spirit of persevering
TiiK licisiuN HOYS AM) gi;xi:i;ai, i;\(;i:.
patriotism swayed alike the men and the women, the ))o)s and the
girls of th^ Revolution. The indignation that k'd the Boston boys
to protest to General Gage against the petty tyranny of his soldiers
who liad trampled down their cherished "slides" was the same
spirit that animated their fathers to fight against British tjrainiy
even to the bitter end and that broutrht in at last that success that
STARTING OUT IIST LIFE.
119
SO many had prated for, so many liad worked for, ,so many liad
fought for, through seven long years of struggle and disaster, of
defeat and loss, of hope and faith and a glorious persistence.
CHAPTER XIV.
STARTING OUT IN LIFE.
TIEN any prize is won, when any desired end is reached,
when any thing that one has hoped, or worked, or fought
for is at last obtained, the world, looking on, asks concern-
ing him who has secured the prize : " What Avill he do
with it ■'" From the boy in Franklin's wise old story who
" paid too dear for his whistle " to the young man who has reached
his "• freedom," the girl who has received hsr diploma, the man or
woman who has attained fame or wealth or position — the same
question applies to all : " What will he do wdth it ? "
The thirteen revolted colonies, assuming the sounding title of
" The United States of America " had won independence. What
would they do with it? There were plenty to ask the question.
The world looked on to scorn, to criticise, to sneer; for liberty was
not yet accepted as the birthright of every man, and king-cursed
Europe had but little faith in the success of the republic-experiment
across the westeim sea.
And, in fact, many in the newly-delivered land itself doubted and
hesitated, beset with gloomy fears. There w\a.s talk of giving up
the idea of a republic and establishing a monarchy ; there was even
a foolish movement started (at which none was angrier than the
great patriot himself) to proclaim Washington as king and for a
120
STARTING OUT IN LIFE.
tim-; people were " all at sea" just what to do with the liberty they
had secured.
During the Revolution the colonies — or States as they were now
called — had been held together in some sort of government by the
Continental Congress and the paper its members had drawn up,
called the " Articles of Confederation." But this was really ac-
THRKATS OF RESISTANCE TO TAXATION.
cepted as a government only because of the desperate needs of war.
The Continental Congress merely governed by general consent ; it
had no authority to govern. It agreed, in 1778, upon certain rights
and powers which were called the "Articles of Confederation"
and which stated that the thirteen united colonics, thereafter to
be knowai as the United States of America, did b}' these articles
" enter into a firm league of friendship Avith each other for their
common defense, the security of their liberties and their mutual
and general welfare."
This was well enough for a time of war. But it was not govern-
ment. And now peace had come. Many clear-headed men in
STARTING OUT IJV LIFE.
121
America speedily saw that neither the Continental Congress nor its
Articles of Confederation were of any further use. Liberty had
been won, but it was liberty without union. The country was
weak and exhausted from the wounds of war; prosperity that the
people had looked for as one of the first results of freedom did not
come ; the States, relieved from the strain of war, began to quarrel
with one another over boundaries and ti-ade ; the talk of taxation
led to angry threats of resistance ; bloodshed was feared and State
after State threatened unless this or that was done to ".secede" from
" the confederation." Congress had no authority ; people obeyed
or disobeyed its commands as they saw fit ; the State governments
had more real power than had the congress, and young Alexander
Hamilton perplexed by the way things looked said sadly : ■• A nar
tion without a national government is an awful spectacle."
And it was from such men as this young Alexander Hamilton
that relief at last came. From the very first he had seen that
only in union was there strength. Before
the close of the Revolution, in the year
1780, he had written to his friend the con-
gressman James Duane : '' We must have
a vigorous confederation if we mean to
succeed in the contest and be happy
thereafter." And in that very letter this
remai'kable young man of twenty-three
outlined many of the provisions that, later,
found a place in the Constitution of the
United States.
For this is what came in due time — a
paper drawn up and signed by the representatives of the people
and accepted by each and all of the several States, by the agree-
ments in which the United States of America were to be guided and
governed. This is known as the Constitution of the United States.
It was adopted in the year 1787, at a meeting together in the city
IXKSTAXD USED IN SIGNTNG TKE
COXSTITUTIOX.
12-J STARTING OUT IX LIFE.
of Philadelphia of forty-five delegates from the thirteen States
of the new union and which is known in history as the Federal
Convention of ITcST.
This Federal Convention of 178T has been rightly called "one of
tlie most remarkable deliberative bodies known to history." George
Washington was its presiding officer. Among its members were
such men as Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton. James JMadi-
son, Robert Morris, William Livingston, Rufus King, Roger Slii-r-
mun and others whose love for liberty was great, whose foresight
was clear and whose chief desire was to present to their fellow-
citizens a document that should enable them to live together in peace
and unity. From the fourteenth of May to the seventeenth of Sep-
tember, 1787, the Convention discussed, debated, modified, amended
and resolved. Then the great paper, duly signed, was presented to
the people as the best their representatives could do. A year of
discussion succeeded ; one by one the thirteen States said '• all
right" — that is, accepted or ratified the document; and on the thir-
teenth of September, 1788, the Constitution of the United States of
America was officially declared to be " the law of the land."
Let us remember these few " personalities " of the Constitution.
Alexander Hamilton originated it ; Gouveneur Morris planned its
construction ; James Madison put it into shape ; George Washing-
ton was its first signer ; Benjamin Franklin was its oldest signer,
at the age of eighty-one; Nicholas Gilman was its youngest signer,
at the age of twenty-five.
By the Constitution the name of the government created '•' for
and by the people " was the " United States of America." It pro-
vided for a general government whose authority was to be supreme
on all matters of national interest and union ; this was to be divided
into three departments: the legislative, the executive, the judiciary.
The legislative department, calk-d the congress, was to make the
laws ; the executive department, consisting of the President of the
United States and the officers selected b\ him. was to carrv out and
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
" Till tiiihrr iifthc 'JonslUution of the United States.'
STARTING OUT IN LIFE. 125
enforce the laws; the jucliciary department, or law courts of the
United States, was to decide all questions or disputes that might
arise concerning the laws. To the Constitution as "the law of the
land," the national government, the State governments and the
people were to give entire obedience.
The Legislative Dejaartment, which was to make the laws, was to
consist of two branches, the Senate and the House of Representa-
tives. Each State, no matter how large or how small it might b'',
was to have two men in the senate, their " Senators ; " the members
of the House of Representatives were to be chosen by the States ac-
cording to their population, so that the larger States had, of course,
more men in the House of Representatives than the smaller States
could have. These two Houses together comprised the Congress of
the United States and were to levy taxes, borrow money, coin
money, regulate commerce, establish postroffices, declare war, raise
and maintain armies and navies, while the States could only levy
taxes, borrow money and employ soldiers for their own State uses.
A majority of votes in each House of Congress was necessary to
pass a law ; and treaties made by the President must be approved
by the Senate.
The Executive Department, which w\as to enforce the laws, Avas
to be in the hands of a President, chosen every four years by repre-
sentatives of the people known as electors. The president was to
be commander-in-chief of the army and navy and to appoint the
public officers to whom the details of carrying out the laws of
Congress were to be given. If he did wrong he could be accused
or " impeached " by the House of Representatives and tried by the
Senate and in case of his removal, resignation or death his " sub-
stitute " or Vice-President was to take his place. The only other
duty of the Vice-President was to preside over the meetings of the
Senate.
The Judiciary Department which was to " interpret " the laws
was to consist of a supreme court and certain district courts. The
126 STAliTING OUT IN LIFE.
judges were to be nppointed by the President and to hold office lor
life. The "head judge "' ■was to be called the Chief Justice of the
United States.
So, h\ vote of the jJeople of the thirteen United States, the Con-
stitution became the law of the land. But the discu.ssion of its pro-
visions by the people led to a diif'erence of opinion as to its real
value, and this discussion resulted in a division into two parties.
One of these parties believed that the Constitution coidd not be
bettered and that the new Federal governinent was exactly the
thing needed ; this party called itself the Federalists and enthu-
siastically supported the new constitution. The other party be-
lieved that more power should be allowed to the States ; they feared
that too much jiower given to Congress might lead to a monarchy
or a tyranny of some sort, and they declared that so strong a cen-
tral power took away from the people the privilege of self-govern-
ment ; this party was called the Anti-Federalists.
But the majority of the people accepted and resolved to live up
to the new constitution. Washington and Franklin, to whom the
people looked with the greatest respect and confidonce, supported
it heartily and were among the chiefs of the Federalists. When,
however, the office of president was to be filled one man alone
was the choice of the people, and when the sixty-nine electors
sent in their votes for president the sixty-nine ballots were all for
George Washington of Virginia. John Adams of Massachusetts
was elected vice-president. The city of New York was selected as
the capital of the United States, and on the fourth of March, 1789,
on the balcony of Fedei'al Hall (now the site of the Sub-Treasury in
Wall Street) in the city of New York, George Washington took the
oath to support the Constitution as the supreme law of the land ; and
amid the shouts and tlag-waving and booming of cannon that fol-
lowed the proclamation of Chancellor Livingstone who had admin-
istered the oath : " Long live George Washington, President of the
United States ! " the man who had led the armies of his land to vie-
First president of the United .States.
I
STARTING OUT IN LIFE.
129
tory and guided its wisdom in determining upon its form of govern-
ment now began his career as the official head of the new nation —
the President of the United States.
President Washington selected as his chief advisers and assistants
Thomas Jefferson as secretary of state, Alexander Hamilton as
IHK INAUGUHATION OI' PHESIDUNT WASHINGTON.
secretary of the treasury, Henry Knox as secretary of war, and
Edmund Randolph as attorney-general. These men Avere to help
him in the conduct of aft'nirs that came within his duties as the
chief executive officer of the new nation. Congress assembled in
the Federal Building, with Vice-President John Adams of Massachu-
130 " THE AMERICANS."
setts as tlie presiding officer or " president " of the Senate, and
F. A. Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as the presiding officer or
" Speaker " of the House of Representatives ; the " machinery of
government" Avas put in motion and tlie new nation started out
to try the experiment — deemed so doubtful by all the world —
of government by the people.
For one hundred and seventy years had the American people
been preparing for this very experiment. It had been a long and
hard schooling. They had secured their liberty ; and now this was
what they were going to try to do with it : to govern themselves —
or, in the words of the constitution which they had just adopted :
" We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more per-
fect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide
for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure
the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain
and establisli this Constitution for the United States of America."
CHAPTER XY.
"the AMERICANS."
HE new republic of the United States of America started
out in life as a nation in 1789, with a population of nearly
four millions (the actual figures of the first census in
1790, were 3,929,214). Of these four millions Virginia
claimed the most and led the order of the States as luun-
ber one with a population of 747,010; Pennsylvania was number
two with a population of 434,373; North Carolina number three
with a population of 393,751 ; and, following after, as fourth in order
" THE AMERICANS. "
131
came Massachusetts with 378,787; New York as fifth with 340,120;
Maryland sixth with 319,728 ; South Carolina seventh with 249,073 ;
Connecticut eiglith Avith 237,496 ; New Jersey ninth with 184,139;
New Hampshire tenth with 141,885; Maine eleventh with 90,540;
Vermont twelfth with 85,425; Georgia thirteenth with 82,548;
Kentuckj' fourteenth with 73,077 ; Rhode Island fifteenth with
68;825; Delaware sixteenth with 59,096 and Tennessee seventeenth
Avith 35,691. Of these, at that time, four were
not yet admitted as States : Maine was a part of
the State of Massachusetts, Vermont was a part
of New York, Kentucky of Virginia and Ten-
nessee of the Carolinas. Already emigrants were
crossing the Alleghanies and peopling the West-
ern wilderness as Kentucky, Tennessee and the
lands about the Ohio were called. Indeed, dur-
ing the Revolution, a brave American borderer,
named General George Rogers Clarke, had capt-
ured from the British the distant outposts in the
territory of the Illinois, along the Mis.sissippi River, and hai
GEOliGK KOGEIIS CLAKKE.
tl
nis
established a footing for American frontiersmen and given the
United States a claim to the territory north of the Ohio River
when the treaty of peace was signed.
But nearly all of the four millions of Americans above classified
were settled alono; the Atlantic coast line. The western wilderness
had, as yet, too many terrors. The sea was their main highway ;
the sailing-packets their principal means of travel. Lumbering
stages did, indeed, run between the leading cities, but it took quite
as many days by land as by water, for roads were bad, bridges few
and ferries clumsy and dangerous.
Philadelphia was the chief town of the United States. It had in
1790, a population of 42,520, while New York had but 33,131, Bos-
ton but 18,038 and there was no Chicago at all ! Trade with the
interior was by six-horse wagons, by pack-horse or tlat-boat ; what
132
" THE AMERICANS:
little mails tliei-e were could be carried by the postrriders ; news-
papers were few and dull ; schools were poor in instruction and
cruel in discipline: tallow candles, grease "dips" or pitch pine
were the only lights ; Avood was the only fuel ; coal and stoves were
unknown ; farming was rough and far from thorougli and fully one
seventh of the four million Americans were negro slaves.
The buying and selling of black people for use in the farm labor
and housework of America dated from the days of the Spanish co)i-
quhiadoren who, as early as 1508, when they found that the con-
quered Indians could not stand the killing work forced upon them
l)y their cruel task-masters, brought into the
Spanish Main negroes from Africa to take
their places. In 1619 a Dutch captain vent>-
ured with a cargo of nineteen African slaves
to Virginia ; and from their sale to the
planters along the James River dates the
two hundred and fifty years of negro slavery
in North America. At the close of the
Revolution slavery existed in all the States,
though Massachusetts had already declared
it illegal. It was not. however, suited to the
peculiar climate of the Northern common-
wealths whose metliods of farming were
widely different from tho.se employed in the
rice and tobacco plantations of the South.
So it came about that nearly seven eighths
of all the slaves in the United States were
in Maryland, Virginia and North and South Carolina which were
also, as we have seen, the richest and most populous of the thirteen
States. New York owned the largest number of any Northern State
— fullv twentv thousand. But, even then, clear-headed and I'ight-
minded men saw the e\il of slavery and warned their countrymen
of the risks of continuiny; it. The founders of the government —
BORROWING FIKE IX OLD DAYS.
" THE Americans:
133
Washington and Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Jay and Hamilton
— opposed the degrading system as unsuited to a land of liberty,
and earnestly desired its abolition. But in 1793 a Connecticut man
who was teaching school in
Georgia, Eli Whitney by name,
invented a machine for clean-
ing cotton. Tliis was called
the cotton-gin. With it a
slave who, before that time,
could not clean over five
pounds of cotton a day, could
easily clean a thousand pounds
a day. At once the cultiva-
tion of cotton became the
chief industry of the South ;
the value of slave labor was
greatly increased ; the warn-
ings of the fathers of the re-
public were disregarded and
the fight for the keeping up
and extension of the hateful
system continued for nearly
seventy years.
With only sailing vessels or
horses as means of communi-
cation between the different
sections, travel was not very
general and visiting was not
greatly indulged in. Neighborhoods kept to themselves, for when
it took six days to go from Boston to New York and tliree from
New York to Philadelphia the roads were never crowded. Presi-
dent Washington rode in his private coach all the way from Mount
Vernon to New York to be inaugurated, and the journey occupied
' KING COTTON.
134
" THE AMERICANS."
seven days, so filled was it with receptions, greetings, processions
and enthusiasm.
The adoption of the Constitution and the inaugnration of the
new government made men and women intensely American. They
1111 M A< il. 1 t > \i 11,
remembered that in the early days of opposition to Great Britain
they had been able to do without the manufactures of the mother
country and they saw no reason why they should not now depend
upon American productions, and develop home resources.
'■ THE AMERICANS. '
135
So, all over the land the people combined to use as far as possible
American materials only. Rich and poor alike wore plain clothes
of strong home stuff ; the ladies met in " spinning-bees " -where
each one tried to out-do the other in the work accomplished ;
" American broadcloth " became the fashioii ; and both President
Washington and Vice-President Adams took the oath of office
dressed from head to foot in home-spun garments " whose niaterial
was the product of American soil."
The Revolution, however, had not altogether destroyed that very
objectionable feeling of " I am better than you," that royalty and
aristocracy are responsible for and that is so hard for people to get
rid of. The Declaration of Independence had told the world that
" all men are created free and equal," but for many
people, even in free America, it was hard to admit
the equality. So, in the little cities and in the
neigliborhood centei's of the United States there
existed for years that unwise feeling of superiority
that we call aristocracy, due to the wealth or posi-
tion of certain favored families. Even when Wash-
ington was to be inaugurated the Congress was
perplexed what title to give him. Some, with the
remembrance of the old titles of royalty still in
mind wished to address him as " High Mightiness ; "
some wished to speak of him as " His Highness the
President of the United States of America and
Protector of their Liberty;" "Your Grace" and
" His Excellency," were both proposed ; but good common sense
won the day and it was resolved that the address should be simply
" the President of the United States." And '' To the President "
or " By the President " have been the address and signature
pertaining to the office to this day.
But though aristocratic and high-flown manners and feelings
found place in certain sections, and though the dear and noble-
MAUTHA WASHINGTON, WIFE
OF THE PRESIDENT.
136
" THE AMERICANS. "
minded wife of the President was ridiculously styled by many
" Lady Washington," while men and women aped the display and
costume and fashionable follies of the rotten old courts and king-
doms across the sea, the great mass of the Americans were plain,
sensible, hard-working men and women, who laughed at all such
prett nded " style " and farmed and fished and bought and sold in
the proud knowledge that all men were equal before the law as well
as in the sight of the good God who had created them.
More and more, as population increased, the
young men of the homes by the sea went west
to seek their fortune and to occupy new lands
in the far-off Indian country, where for years
the forests and valleys of Kentucky and Ten-
nessee and the Ohio region had been first the
hunting ground and then the homes of hardy
frontiersmen and hopeful settlers. The Indians
who had hunted and fought in this fertile
section for generations, fiercel}^ resisted the
coming of the white man ; biit it was to no
In spite of arrow and tomahawk and scalping-knife such
mighty hunters as Daniel Boone cleared the pathway in what was
called '' the dark and bloody ground," for settlement and civiliza-
tion ; population increased; and, in 1792, Kentucky was admitted
into the luiion of States, while Tennessee followed in 1796. To
the northeast Vermont, which after years of dispute as to whether
it belonged to New Hampshire or New York had set up for itself
during the Revolution, was in 1791 admitted into the Union as the
fourteenth State.
By the treaty of Paris, Avhich established peace between the
United States and Great Britain after the Revolutionary War, the
boundaries of the United States were acknowledged to be Canadii
on the north, the Mississippi River on the west, and Florida (ex-
tending in a narrow strip to the Mississippi) on the south. The
purpose.
■'■^A\
■#"
-^■■H '
■X
i'- 'i:/^^'>-
',!ii
■'^Wt^jVU-
TIIE NEW HOME IN THE OHIO COUNTRY.
"It v:as fertile, fair and erenj waij attractive.'
" THE AMERICANS:' 139
vast territory extending from the Ohio River to the Great Lakes
was called the Northwest Territory and into this section settlers
speedily fonnd their way. It was fertile, fair and every way attract-
ive, and promised a better outlook for pleasant homes and produc-
tive farming than did the rocky shores and sterile hill-slopes of New
England. As colonists, the people of America had experienced such
bitter days with England that when their own people went west to
settle in the new lands beyond the Ohio they dealt with them justly
and kindly, and the "Ordinance of 1787" which provided for the
government of the Northwest Territory was one of the broadest
and most genei'ous agreements known to history. Daniel Webster
.said of it : " We are accustomed to praise the lawgivers of an-
tiquity ; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus ; but
I doubt whether one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern,
has produced effects of more distinct, marked and lasting character
than the ordinance of 1787." By this "ordinance" slavery was
forbidden ; the inhabitants were assured religions freedom, trial by
jury and equal rights ; conmon schools were to be supported and,
as soon as the population was large enough, five new States were
to be formed from the territory admitted to the Union and were to
be governed by the people themselves. This ordinance and this
territory developed in time into the great and prosperous States of
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.
So, with the new life and the mighty inspiration that liberty and
the privilege of self-government brought, the new American re-
public started toward progress. All was not smooth at first. There
were disputes between sections and jealousies between law-makers ;
there were struggles for place and power; there were protests
against what some deemed the " tyranny of the majority;" the
debts incurred by the years of war wei'e heavy and needed to be
met by that very taxation that so many Americans had learned to
detest and, from this last cause, two "rebellions" sprung — Shay's
insurrection in Massachusetts in 1786, and the whiskey insurrection
140 ''THE AMERICANS."
in Pennsylvania in 17U4, both of which needed to be pnt down by
force of arms. The exciting days of the French Revolution in 1789,
when, profiting by the example of America, the French people
threw off the yoke of the kings (in a much more bloody and brutal
fashion, however, than it was done in America), very nearly dragged
the American republic into war ; but Washington's firm hand on the
helm guided the ship of state safely through the troubled waters of
a dangerous sympathy. The wars on the frontier into which the
settlement of the Ohio country provoked the Indians, begun, in
1790, in defeat under General St. Clair, ended, in 1794, in victory
under General Wayne. These secured from the red owners the
rights to possession forever in the present State of Ohio. Further
rights in the Northwest, and the settlement of disputed questions as
to who had the " say" on the northern border, were secured by a
new treaty with England, concluded by John Jay in 1795.
In spite, however, of debt and jealousies and questions of rights
and privileges, in spite of angry uprisings, misunderstandings and
rumors of war, the new nation speedily began to prosper and under
the two terms which George Washington served as president, bore
itself with dignity and showed the world its ability to live in good
order and to maintain a successful government. Europe still looked
on doubtfull}^, ])ointing to the terrible times in France as one of
the first fruits of American independence and prophesying similar
anarchy and final downfall for America. But, unmoved by this, the
United States held on the course resolved upon ; commerce increased ;
the money of the United States, first coined in 1793, was placed in
circulation ; enterprising sea-ca])tains displayed the American flag
in foreign waters, and in 1700 carried it around' the Avorld on the
good ship Columbia of Boston ; turn-jjike roads were built; canals
were dug ; colleges were founded. Thus American enterprise was
born ; and, as the stormy seventeenth century drew to its close, the
United States of America began to challenge the attention and
admiration of the world.
UNSETTLED DAYS.
141
CHAPTER XVI.
UNSETTLED DAYS,
N 1796 George Washington declined to serve as president
for a third term of four years. Issuing a remarkable
" Farewell Address to the American People," he retired to
private life and settled down to enjoy the rest he had
earned after forty-five years of public service. The home
in which he lived and died, at Mount Vernon on the Potomac River,
has continued to this day an honored place of pilgrimage for all
Americans.
Upon the retirement of Washington people realized that some
other man must be found to serve as president and they at once
began to say what they wanted done and who they wished to do
it. Discussion ran hot and high ; the Federalists took as their can-
didate for president, Washington's
vice-president, John Adams of
Massachusetts ; the anti-Federal-
ists supported Washington's first
Secretary of State, Thomas Jeffer-
son of Virginia. Adams was elected
and, under the law as it then ex-
isted, Jefferson, the defeated candi-
date for jsresident, became vice-
president.
Even before this was concluded
the country was plunged into dis-
putes with France. Washington had kept America from making
promises to France, and the revolutionists then in power in that
WASHINGTON S HOME AT MOUNT VEUNON
142
UJSISETTLED BAYS.
disturbed laud declared that, it the IJuited States desired peace with
France, peace must be paid lor. So they set to work to annoy their
old ally. The American minister was driven from the country ;
American commerce was damaged by unjust laws; American ships
and cargoes were preyed upon ; and American envoys, when sent
across the sea to protest, were told they must pay or suffer. But
Americans had ])roved that they were able to defy injustice.
" Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute," was the
IKAININli ItlXians I'Oli W.U! WITH l-KANCIv
famous answer they made in reply to the French demands, and
at once they prepared for war.
Washington came from his (juiet home at Mount Vernon to once
UNSETTLED DAYS.
143
JOHN ADAMS.
Second president of the United States.
again take his place at the head of the army ; the black cockade,
worn as the symbol of patriotism, was seen in every hat ; old Con-
tinental uniforms that had seen service in the Revolution were
hunted out of chest and closet; and. on many a village common,
the raw recruits, in all sorts of funny costumes, drilled and marched
and " trained " with all the fervor and enthusiasm of the old fight-
144 UNSETTLED DAYS.
ing days of " tweatv years ago." Tlie navy was increased, and
several sea-fights had taken phice — notably one off the Island of
St. Kitt's where Commodore Truxton in the war-sliip Constellation
^ought and captured the French frigate L'lnsurgente ; the song
" Hail, Columbia ! " was upon every one's lips and then, even before
war had been declared, Napoleon Bonaparte, who had put himself
at the head of French affairs, made peace with the United States
in 1799, and the war cloud passed over.
Whenever there is danger of war people become greatly excited
and sometimes do very foolish things. And so it happened that,
when war with France seemed probable, the law-makers assembled
in Congress, of whom the majority belonged to the Federalist party,
passed certain laws that proved to be both stupid and hurtful to the
best interests of the country. They feared " foreign influence " and
they wished to show the world the " power " of the United States ;
so they made a law by which the president could arrest and exile
any foreigner or '• alien " who was thought to be dangerous. This
was called the " Alien Law." Another measure punished any
person who dared say a word in public against the government ;
this was called the " Sedition Law." At once the opponents of
the Federalists who called themselves Republicans cried out ••' For
shame ! " The Alien Law, they said, took away the right to a trial
by jury ; the Sedition Law was a blow at free speech. The American
people had learned to value these rights for which they had fought
too highly to permit them to be abused. Popular opinion sided
with the Republicans, and at the Presidential election of 1800, amid
great excitement. President John Adams and the Federalists were
defeated.
But the success of the Republican ticket gave Thomas Jefferson
and Aaron Burr an equal luunber of votes. The Constitution
declared that the person receiving the highest number of votes
should be president, and the one receiving the next highest number
should be vice-president. So here was a problem : which should be
UNSETTLED DAYS.
145
the president, Jefferson or Burr ? The decision was referred to thi
House of Representatives and, there also, it resulted in a " tie-vote."
There was a great deal of delay and much angry talk, but finally
the struggle came to an end and Jefferson was chosen president
with Burr as vice-president.
But this showed one weak spot in the Constitution ; it would not
do to have such a struggle repeated and the Constitution was
changed or '' amended," so far as
to direct the presidential electors
to vote for but one man for presi-
dent and to make a separate bal-
lot for the vice-president. And
this method has continued to
this day.
In December, 1799, George
Washington died. The news
came like a shock to the whole
country ; the world mourned a
great man gone ; England low-
ered her flag to half-mast ; France
draped in black her standai'ds
and her flags and America, from
north to south, sorrowed for the
loss of her greatest and wisest
man. Firm, prudent, sagacious,
just, courageous, patient, true and good, this illustrious man is now
revered by all Americans as truly the " father of his country " ; his
birthday is a national festival ; his memory is dear to all, and now,
almost a century after his death, there is not an American but
repeats with deepest faith the eulogy pronounced upon George
Washington by John Marshall when making before the Congress
public announcement of this good man's death : " First in war,
firsi in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
THOMAS JEFFERSON'.
Third president of the United States.
146
UNSETTLED DAYS.
Washington's greatist monument is tlio memory of his spotless
name ; but as a noble monument, also, may be regarded " the Federal
City," which, selected by him, was built upon land given to the
general government by the States of Maryland and Virginia, and
set apart as the District of Columbia. After his death the new city
received the name of Washington and was made the capital of the
United States.
In 1800 the government was removed there ; President Jeffer-
son was there inaugurated ; and to-day the straggling forest settle-
ment of 1800 has developed into one of the most beautiful of
cities, one of the most imposing of capitals.
Thomas Jefferson, as has been said, was the greatest of Democrats.
The success of his party was the success of new men and new
manners. The old colonial ideas that birth and blood were meant
to lead were done away with, even as the wigs and cues, the short
clothes and buckles, the
-^''- ^k .S^ frills and patches and pow-
^ I; r *-r''^.>''- der of the eighteenth cen-
tury gave place to modern
manners and a less theat-
rical dress. The nine-
teenth century meant pro-
gress and, even from its
earliest years, progress
was the order of the day.
Profiting l)y the wars by
which Eiu'ope was almosi,
torn asunder, America'^
commerce grew to greai
proportions; her debts were speedily settled, her ships were .seen
in every quarter of the globe, and her territory was very largeljr
increased.
In 1803 Napoleon seeing that the American possessions of Franr J
^'%''-W<?-
WASHINGTON S TOMB AT MOUNT VEUNON.
THE SALE OF LOUISIANA.
'^Napoleon sold the vast territory for fifteen millions of dollars."
UNSETTLED DAYS. 149
would be in danger from the hostile arms of England, sold to the
United States for fifteen millions of dollars, the vast territory lying
between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains and known
as Louisiana. This more than doubled the possessions of the United
States, and from this land purchase of 1803 have since been made
the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska,
North and South Dakota, Montana and the Indian Territory. It
also included goodly portions of the present States of Minnesota,
Colorado and Wyoming.
The new republic was fast growing into a successful and ambi-
tious young giant, but, like many ambitious young men, it boasted and
assumed too much and frequently got into trouble. Fired by the
success of the Louisiana purchase in 1803, it stretched out toward the
Pacific and, by virtue of an exploring expedition conducted into the far
northwestern region by Lewis and Clarke in 1804, it laid claim to
what was known as the Oregon country — a claim that was disputed
by England for nearly forty years.
In 1800 the population of the United States had increased to
5,308,483 ; in 1810 it had grown to 7,239,881. Discovery and in-
vention, though weak and unsatisfactory, were just beginning to
open people's eyes, and were giving a new push to American enter-
prise. Robert Fulton invented the steamboat in 1807, and by his
success made the great rivers of the United States more valuable
than ever before as highways for commerce. Coal was discovered
in Pennsylvania, but no one knew just how to use it to advantage.
Dissatisfied people were beginning to find fault with their circum-
stances and their surroundings, and no less a j^ersonage than the
vice-president of the United States, Aaron Burr, smarting under
.what he considered ill-treatment by the Government and having
wickedly killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, hatched up a treason-
able scheme to found a government of his own in the new western
country, but was arrested, tried, acquitted, disgraced and forgotten.
The people of the United States might be uneasy and ambitious, biii
150
UNSETTLED DAYS.
they were loyal to the govennnent they had set up, and such schemes
of treason as was this of Burr found neither favor nor support
among them.
But in Europe things were becoming worse and worse, as
Nn]5oleon Bonaparte, declaring himself emperor of France, found
himself at war with the world. Franco with the most pov,'erful
army in the world, and England witli the most formidable navy,
made things decidedly unpleasant for each other and the rest of the
world. England declared a blockade of all European ports against
France — that is, refused to allow the vessels of any nation to enter
the harbors of France or her allies ; France retaliated by forbidding
all vessels to sail into English harbors. As American ships at that
time did most of the carrying trade these decrees of France and
England most deeply affected American
commerce. Congress would, had it
dared, have gone to war to redress this
outrage ; it had in 1801 declared war
against the Mohammedan pirates of the
Barbary states in North Africa, and had
punished them severely in what has been
known as the War with Tripoli ; but to
fight Tripoli and to fight Great Britain
were quite different affairs and the
United States could not hope to beat
Great Britain on the seas. So, instead.
Congress tried to punish both the great
powers by refusing to trade with them
and passed in 1807 a measure known
as the " Embargo Act," which forbade
the sailing of American vessels to any foreign port. But this was
almost suicide. American ships lay rotting at their docks; Ameri-
can commerce was very nearly destroyed ; New York and New
England protested loudly and some particularly unpatriotic people
TUK TALLINO FLAG.
War tiit/t Tripoli.
UNSETTLED DAYS.
151
in the Eastern States, when tliey saw their business ruined and
their commerce dead began to talk, very forcibly, of " seceding "
from the Union.
The Embargo Act proved so unpopular and hurtful that Congress
soon repealed it and in
1809 passed, in its j^lace,
what was known as the
" Non - Intercourse Act."
This permitted American
vessels to trade with all
countries except France
and England. But it was
too late to save the lost
popularity of President
Jefferson. He had served
two terms as president, but
the Embargo Act was the
means of defeatins; his re-
nomination and his party
(which was no"w often called
the Democratic party) was
obliged in 1808 to take
another man as candidate.
This was James Madison
of Virginia, who had been
a member of the historic
Continental Congress and
had served as Secretary of
State under Jefferson.
The Non-Intercourse Act was repealed in 1810 and the new admin-
istration of President Madison found itself face to face with a prob-
lem that must be solved at once if prosperity was to be regained for
those sections of the country which had been the principal sufferers
JAJIES MADISON.
Fourth president of the United States.
J52
A WRESTLE WITH THE OLD FOE.
under the unfortunate Embargo Act. Tlie old tyrants across the
sea were bent on ''crowding" the new nation beyond the limit of
patience. The ''young giant" must prepare to stan'd his ground
and either fight or fall.
CHAPTER XVII.
A WRESTLE WITH THE OLD FOE.
T is very hard to forget. • When you have been wronged
or worried by any of your companions you may learn to
forgive them, but the memory of the wrong that has been
done you lasts a long time.
It was so with the United States and England. The
bitterness of the strife that brought on the Revolution, the ill-feeling
that accompanied those seven years of war continued as unpleasant
memories long after the treaty of peace was signed. And the boastr
ing about success assumed by Americans Avas as distasteful to
Englishmen as was English contempt of America exasperating to
Americans.
When in 1809 the "Non-Intercourse Act" was repealed the
Congress of the United States said to France and Great Britaiu :
" If one of you will recall the laws you have made that are so hard
on American commerce, we will trade with you only and will ' boy-
cott' the other nation." To which Napoleon at once responded.
"All right; I will." He didn't, but he said he would, and on the
strength of his false promise the United States at once cut off its
trade with England, and began to boast about it, too. For, you see,
the old hatred still lived.
A WIi£:S7'Zi; WITH THE OLD FOE.
153
Great Britain, confident of her strength npon the seas, treated
America with more contempt than ever. She claimed the right to
search American ships and take out any sailors that might seem to
be of English or Irish birth. Of course the Bi'itish searchers were
not over-scrupulous and many American citizens were seized as
British sailors, and forced to serve in English war-ships. British
men-of-war sailed up and down the American coast, attacking and
capturing American merchant
vessels, while, in the West,
agents of the British govern-
ment stirred up the Indians to
hostility against American set^
tiers, furnished them arms and
ammunition, and backing up the
Indian leader Tecumseh, chief
of the Shawnees, brought about
at last in 1811 an Indian war.
This war was, however, speed-
ily ended by General William
Henry Harrison, the governor
of Indiana Territory, who,
marching against Tecumseh.
utterl}' defeated the Indians at
the famous battle of Tippe-
canoe.
All these signs of English
hostility and hatred had their
effect at last upon America.
Instead of calmly talking things over and trying to arrange the
difficulty America "^'got mad" with England. All talk of peace
ceased. Patience was exhausted, self-respect could not longer sub-
mit, the old " spirit of '76 " was renewed, and though New England
objected to the war as unwise and wrong, popular oj^inion forced
TECUJISEH, CHIEF OF THE SHAWNEES.
154
A M'RESTLE ^yIT^ THE OLD FOE.
Congress into action and on the eighteenth of June, 1812, President
Madison formally declared war against Great Britain.
The countr}' was altogether unprepared for such a conflict.
England had a thousand war-ships ; the United States had but
1111. ..Aiii.E oi- nri'iXA-NOii.
twelve : England's army was a victorious force of disciplined soldiers ;
America had no army ; the country was poor ; the president had
been forced into war contrary to his own judgment ; the generals in
command of the raw and inidisciplined soldiers were veterans "left
over" IVdiu the Revolution, too old to be of real service and Great
A WliESTLE WITH THE OLD FOE.
155
HndremeJatksoa'
Britain felt tliat it would be but an easy task to whip the young
nation that thirty years before had caused her so much shame.
From first to last tlie land battles of the War of 1812 were a
series of defeats, brightened by only a few victories. The soldiers
had no confidence in their generals, until generals had really been
made by the bitter experience of defeat. For the most part it was
a " leaderless war." The names of Winfield Scott and Andrew
Jackson, with perhaps that of William Henry Harrison, are almost
the only ones that come down to us as those of
successful leaders.
The war was mismanaged from the start. Many
of the people were opposed to it ; the Government
was absolutely incapable of directing it ; the troops
lacked discipline ; the generals knew nothing of
how to handle or how to lead their men ; the
Canadian frontier, then almost a wilderness, was
foolishly crossed and recrossed for the impossible
invasion of Canada ; posts that should have been
held at all hazards were surrendered or abandoned,
and important centers that should have been de-
fended were left at the mercy of the enemy. Thus was Detroit on
the northwestern border siu'rendered by General Hull and all the
territory beyond the Ohio country lost to the Americans ; the
territory of Maine was seized and held by the British ; and in
August, 1814, five thousand British soldiers marched through Vir-
ginia and Maryland, drove the militia before them again and again,
entered Washintj-ton from which the inefficient "'overnment had
tied, burned the Capitol, the White House (as the home of the presi-
dent was called) and most of the public buildings, and then sailed
to attack the city of Baltimore. With the exception of such
engagements as the Battle of the Thames and of Chippewa Plains
and the wonderful victory at New Orleans — a needless battle
fought after peace had been agreed upon — the history of the land
156
A WliESTLE WITH THE OLD FOE.
battles of the War of 1812 is, as Mr. Roosevelt says, •• not cheerful
reatlinu; for an American."
One result, however, these unsuccessful battles had. Even out of
defeat they brought discipline. They made fighters out of the raw
recruits, and, as one historian tells us, '■ two years of warfare gave
us soldiers who could stand against the best men of Britain."
But it was a schooling dearly bought. The grapple on land with
which the old foemen again tried their strength was dreary and dis-
heartening enough in its results to the Americans ; dissatisfaction at
^the conduct of the war became so strong in certain sections that the
opponents of the government met in convention at Hartford in 1814,
and threatened to set up a separate government for New England
which, so it was claimed, the government had left to take care of itr
self ; the treasury was bankrupt ; the leaders were incompetent ; and,
after the burning of Washington, the situation appeared so desperate
that the English lookers-on exultantly declared that '• the ill-organ-
ized association is on the eve of dissolution and the world is speedily
to be delivered of the mischievous example of the existence of a
government founded on demo-
cratic rebellion."
But all this while the unexpect-
ed was happening. The Ameri-
can navy from which nothing had
been anticipated, and which, at the
opening of the war. it was proposed
to keep in port to save it from
destruction by the formidable British fleets of war, took uj) the
challenge that England had so contemptuously flung at America,
sailed boldly out against the stoutest and most invincible British
war-ships, swelled its force by swift-sailing privateers, and showed
so much pluck and courage that it succeeded in doing more damage
to Britisii shipping and commerce than any nation had ever accom-
plished. Out of eighteen lake and ocean duels the American men-
THB nUINEU WHITE HOI'SE.
A WBESTLB WITH THE OLD FOE.
157
of-war won fifteen. The deeds of Hull and Macdonough, of Lawrence
and Perry, of Decatur and Biddle and Bainbridgo, of Warrington,
Stewart and Porter, of Jones and Burrows and Reid — American
captains all — very nearly cause us to forget the defeats and discour-
agements of the war on land and make us agree with Mr. Roosevelt
when he says " it must be but a poor-
spirited American whose veins do not tin-
gle with pride when he reads of the cruises
and fights of the sea-captains and their
grim prowess, which kept the old Yankee
flag floating over the waters of the Atlantic
for three years, in the teeth of the mighti-
est naval power the world has ever seen."
Most wars are like boyish quarrels —
altogether unnecessary and easily to be
avoided if but the quarrelers will soften
their hearts instead of doubling up their
fists. But when bullying or stupidity bring
on either a quarrel or a war then resistance
is right and valor is manliness. " Beware,"
says Shakespeare,
KEEPING THE OLU FLAG AFLOAT.
" Of entrance to a quarrel ; but, being in,
Bear it that the opposed may beware of thee."
The War of 1812 was an unnecessary quarrel. Kad England been
less insolent and America better guided, the war could easily have
been avoided ; or had there entered into the early dispute the more
friendly spirit of what we to-day call "arbitration" no shot from
fort or ship need have been fired. But the war did come ; and, as
we look back upon it, we are proud to know that American pluck
and bravery carried the struggle through, despite poor leadership
on the land and heavier force on the water. " Don't give up the
ship," cried the brave Captain Lawrence as he fell on the blood-
158 A WliESTLE WITH THE OLD FOE.
stained deck of the Chesapeake. That appeal was the battle cry
throui'"hout the war; witli it nailed to the mast of Commodore
Perry's flag-ship in the famous Battle of Lake Erie, the blue jack-
ets stuck to its commands so well that Perry broke the British line,
captured the whole fleet, and sent off his famous announcement of
victory : " We have met the enemy, and they are ours."
The war began with the disgraceful surrender of Detroit ; it closed
with the marvelous victory at New Orleans. There, on the eighth
of January, 1815, Sir Edward Pakenham with twelve thousand
British regulars — men who had met and conquered the veteran
troops of Napoleon — assaulted the hastily constructed earthworks
behind which Genei'al Jackson with six thousand undisciplined sol-
diers awaited the attack. Within half an hour the whole British
army v/as in full retreat, beaten back bv Jackson's stubborn resist-
ance. Pakenham and more than twenty-five hundred of his men
were killed ; the Americans lost but eight killed and thirteen
wounded. "Few victories in history," says Mr. Johnson, "have
been so complete ; and this one enabled the United States to forget
many of the early failures."
It was a victory of leadership. The war at last had developed
one great general — Andrew Jackson of Tennessee who, says Mr.
Roosevelt, " with his cool head and quick eye, his stout heart and
strong hand, stands out in history as the ablest general the United
States produced from the outbreak of the Revolution down to the
beginning of the great Rebellion."
Had there been known such a thing as an ocean telegraph this
battle need not have been fought, for a treaty of peace had been
signed at Ghent in Belgium on the twenty-fourth of December,
1814. Peace was joyfully welcomed. It was greatly needed. Busi-
ness was at a standstill; commerce was nearly destroyed; money
was scarce, and distress and poverty were felt in every section.
The war had cost the country nearly eighty millions of dollars, and
people were weary of the struggle.
A WRESTLE WITH THE OLD FOE.
159
But it had settled several things which, though not mentioned in
the treaty of peace, were most inipoi'tant to America. The victory
of General Harrison at the River Thames, closed the long strneocle
for possession in the west, for there the frontiersmen of the Ohio
JACKSON'S SIIAliPSIKJOTKltS AT NKW UlILEAXS.
broke down the barrier to settlement that Indians, Frenchmen and
Britishers had sought to maintain, and settled it forever that the
Avest was to be American. The long series of ocean victories proved
the power of America on the sea, and never again did Great Britain
160
A WRESTLE WITH THE OLD FOE.
attempt to enforce that insolent '•' right of search " that had been
one of the canses of the Revolution, and brought on the War of
1812.
In spite of the dissatisfaction at the course of the govennnent
and its weakness in the hour of danger the Democratic-Republican
party, while the war was be-
ing waged, was strong enough
to re-elect Madison as presi-
dent in 1813. In fact the
old Federalist party that had
started the government in
1789, came to an end during
the war-time. The younger
men of the country who hotly
supported the war with Eng-
land, had no patience with
a party that opposed it ; the
Hartford Convention of 1814
that talked so foolishly of
separation from the Union,
was largely the work of Fed-
eralists and was their last act.
For peace and the Ameri-
can victories showed the real
strength of the United States, and its citizens had no use for a
party that seemed to be only the party of submission and grum-
bling. The Hartford Convention and Jackson's victory gave the
death biow to the Federalist party, and with the close of the war
but one remained — and to this day this has been known as the
Democratic Party.
AMBUSmCD IN THE INDIAN COUNTKY.
STA TE-MAKINQ.
IGl
CHAPTER XVIII.
STATE-MAKING.
HE first suit of clothes is speedily outgrown. Legs
lengthen ; arms stretch out ; and tucks must either be let
down, pieces added or new suits cut and made if the grow-
ing girl or boy is to be considered as properly clothed.
They must have more growing room.
The first suit of the United States made of thirteen well-matched
pieces, was speedily outgrown. Even before the Revolution the
first feelers had been stretched out toward the distant west, and
when peace was declared, such statesmen as Thomas Jefferson began
to cut and carve the western territory obtained from England, so a.s
to make at least seventeen States. Mr. Jefferson had even selected
names for his new States that were to spring up in prairie-land.
They were a combination of Latin, Greek and American-Indian
names, and odd enough they sound to us. Here are ten of them
as they were proposed to Congress : Sylvania, Cherronesus, Michi-
gania, Assenisipi, Metropotamia, Illinoia, Saratoga, Washington,
Polypotamia, and Pelisipia. But neither the divisions nor the
names of the suggested new States found favor with the Congress ;
while the code of laws that was proposed for their government
was also rejected, though it contained two ^^ revisions that were
indicative of the principles of so strong a Democrat as Jefferson :
one was the abolition of slavery after 1800 ; the other, that no one
holding an hereditary title should be admitted to citizenship.
We have already seen that soon after the Revolution three new
States were added to the original thirteen, namely : Vermont in
1791, Kentuckv in 1792 and Tennessee in 1796. These were the
162
STA TE-MAKJNG.
result of a settlement of the disputes as to b(juudaries and owner-
ship of land between New Hampshire and New York, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Virginia and the two Carolinas. These once adjusted,
and the new States formed, the settlers who, after the Revolution,
with well-loaded pack-horse and clumsy Conastoga wagon, with wives
and children, cattle and scanty household goods and farming imple-
ments, had migrated by thousands into the farther west, soon de-
cf'-'O 7"-... j:r<T>^
THR CONASTOGA WAGON.
sired citizenship. The opening up of the Ohio country in 1787, the
purchase of the vast territory of Louisiana from France in 1803,
and (Spain's sale of its territory of Florida in 1819 added an immense
amount of unsettled land to tlie United States possessions, and emi-
grants from Europe or restless residents of the eastern States wei-e
constantly on the move we.st. In 1815 General Jackson in a series
of rajjid lights defeated the restless Creek Indians in Alabama and
opened the southwest to American occupation, and the use of steam-
THE MATL BOAT ON THE OHIO.
" Before the days of railroads and steamhoats."
STA TE-MAKINO. 165
boats for navigation and trade on the Mississippi and other western
rivers hastened the a-rowth of western settlement. For Fulton's in-
vention of the steamboat had — after the first doubts were over —
been quickly made use of by progx'essive Americans. Before 1812
steamboats were running on the Hudson, the Ohio, the St. Lawrence,
Raritan and Delaware rivers ; steam ferry-boats crossed and re-
crossed the East River, between New York and Brooklyn ; and in
1816 a steamboat ploughed its way up the Mississippi and into the
Ohio to Louisville.
The settlers of the west found an easier land to jii'epare and
cultivate than did their ancestors of two centuries before, but they
had frequent and desperate hostilities with the former Indian owners
of the land (who never could understand that to sell or give a jjiece
of land deprived them of all rights to such land) and the question
of slavery in the new sections was already causing much ques-
tioning and dispute.
The successful close of the War of 1812 brought many new people
across the sea to settle in and become citizens of the growing West-
ern Republic. The west began to fill up ; in the northwestern -and
southwestern territories population gradually centered about certain
available points and, out of the territories, a number of States were
formed. Ohio had been admitted to the Union in 1802 and Louisi-
ana in 1812. After the war, others followed. Indiana was admitted
in 1816, Mississippi in 1817, Illinois in 1818 and Alabama in 1819 ;
Maine (outgrowing the care of Massachusetts of which it had been
a part for fully two hundred years) came in as a new State in 1820,
and Missouri was admitted in 1821.
So j-ou see that by the year 1820 all the territory east of the
Mississippi River, except that wild northern lake region now occu-
pied by Michigan and Wisconsin, had been cut up into States. They
had been admitted also alternately — first a northern and then a
southern one, for the question of slavery was from the first a puz-
zling one to settle. Really the United States of America held by
IGC)
S TA TE-MAKING.
tlie teachings of the Declaratioi) of Independence and did not be-
heve in slavery. In 1808 the bringiiiLi' in — or iniportution — of
negro shives was forbidden by the United States go\ernment ; be-
fore 1820 tlie keeping of shaves had almost entirely disappeared in
all the States north of Virginia; by the ordinance of 1787 slavery
was forbidden north of the Ohio River. Bnt slave lal)or was con-
sidered a necessity in the
South ; the planters of the
vast fields of cotton, tobacco
and rice, thought they could
not get along unless they had
luipaid labor on their great
plantations; and .so, though
disliked by many, slavery at
length became what is known
as " an institution " through-
out the South. The question
of s]a\erv therefore, gradu-
ally grew in importance and
became a national matter.
Congress tried to suit both
sections by keeping the bal-
ance even and adding a new
State first to the' North and
tlien to the South — first a free State and then a slave State. But
when Missouri came knocking at the door of the Union asking
admission the question as to how it should come in caused a hot
discussion. The section had belonged to tlie old Ficnch territory
of Louisiana, a slave-holding land ; the ordinance of 1787 which
prohibited slavery north of the Ohio did not atfect it, because the
Ohio did not touch it. But the people of the north argued that
if Mis.souri came in as a slave State it would open all the territory
west of the Mississippi to slaveholders; the jieople of the South said
AN OLD-TIMK LOULSIANA SUGAH MILL.
STATE-MAKING. 167
that the Constitution left the shxvery question to the States ; that
Missouri was a slave section and that Congress had nothing to say
in the matter. So the question grew into a hot and bitter dis-
pute that at one time even threatened to break up the Union ;
but at last each side '' gave in " a little ; a line was drawn at the
southern boundary of Missouri ; it was agreed that Missouri should
be admitted into the Union as a slave State, but that slavery
should be forever prohibited north of that line — the land occu-
pied by the new State of Missouri only excepted. This famous
agreement was known as " the Missouri Compromise," and, under
it, Missouri was admitted into the Union in 1821 as the twenty-
fourth State.
This season of State-making had almost doubled the original " old
thirteen ;" it had trebled the population. There were in 1821 fully
ten millions of people in the United States as against the three
millions that brought the land out of successful revolution in 1783.
With the exception of the slavery dispute there was but little to
disturb the peace and prosperity of the land. With the close of the
War of 1812, business grew brisk again and commerce began to re-
vive. The farmers readily " moved " their crops ; money became
more plentiful and people speedily forgot the worries of the war-
days and remembered only the glories.
In 1816 President Madison was succeeded by James Monroe, of
Virginia, the nominee of the Republican party. The successful
ending of the war with Great Britain had destroyed the last rem-
nant of the old Federalist party which had opposed and hindered
the carrying on of the Avar. In the election of 1816 the Federalist
candidates received but tliirty-four of the two hundred and twenty-
one electoral votes ; and in 1820 so satisfied were the people with
President Monroe and his way of " running things," so contented
were they with the condition of the country, the prospects of
business and the steady progress of national growth and wealth
that this period of American history is often called " the Era of
168
STA TE-MAEING.
Good Feeling."' Monroe was re-elected president in 1820 almost
without a dissenting voice. In fact no oppusing candidate was
nominated and when the electoral votes were cast only one was
given against Monroe, this being thrown so that no president
save Washino-ton might
ever be said to have re-
ceived the unanimous vote.
One of the measures that
came out of this '' Era
of Good Feeling," where
every one w^as proud to be
an American and was anx-
ious to see all America re-
publican was the statement
of what has since been
known as " the Monroe
Doctrine." The Spanish
colonies in Central and
South America, imitating
the United States, had
thrown off the Spanish
yoke and secured their in-
dependence. But it was
feared that some of the
other monarchies of Eu-
rope would either help
Spain to conquer her re-
volted colonies or step in
themselves and possess the
land. Americans could not submit to such an interference ; and,
in 1823, President Monroe in the message to Congress which each
president makes once a year, declared that, while the United
States had no intention of interfering in any European quarrel
J.V.MI-..- Mw.SKtih.
Fifth president 0/ the United States.
STA TE-MAKING.
16S»
or war, due notice was given that no more European colonies should
be planted in America, and that the United States would not
permit " an attempt by any nation of Europe to reduce an inde-
pendent nation of North or South America to the condition of a
colony." It is said that this outspoken language (which has ever
since been the firm stand of the United States) was placed in the
president's message by John Quincy Adams, President Monroe's
Secretary of State and the next succeeding president of the United
States.
President James Monroe was the fifth president of the United
States and the fourth Virginian to fill that high office. A soldier of
the Revolution and a member of the Continental Congress, he
was the last of the men of the Revolution to be elected president.
He was the third president to die on the Fourth of July. Two of
those who preceded him, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died
within a few hours of each other on the Fourth of July, 1826 — the
fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independ-
ence, on which paper both their names appear. Monroe died on the
Fourth of July, 1831. He was sometimes called the " Last Cocked
Hat," as he was the last of the Revolutionary Presidents and one
of the last Americans to wear the quaint old cocked hat of that
glorious period.
170
VITIZEXa AND PARTIES.
CHAPTER XIX.
CITIZENS AND PARTIES.
HE '' Em of Good Feeling "' of course could not long con-
tinue. Oi^position is really necessary to progress and
growth, as, if we all thought alike, there would be no one
to push things ahead.
So when the time for a new- election came around, to-
ward the close of President Monroe's second term, the era of good
feelino- became almost an era of confusion, because people were not
united as to just who they wished to select as their new president.
Everybody was " Republican," but their choice was by no means
the same. At last, four candidates were decided upon. These
were : John Quincy Adams, who had been Monroe's Secretary of
State, Andrew Jackson, '• the
hero of New Orleans," Wil-
liam H. Crawford, who had
been secretary of the treas-
ury, and Henry Clay, the
" great Kentuckian," speaker
of the House of Representa-
tives. So many candidates,
as elections were then carried
on, split up the electoral vote
completely ; no one candi-
date had a majority — that
is, a large enough proportion
of the entire electoral vote —
and the matter had to go for
ASHLAND, TIIK HOMK OF HKNKY CLAY-
CITIZENS AND PARTIES. 171
decision to the House of Representatives. There, only the three
higliest names were voted upon ; the friends of Henry Clay cast
their votes for John Quincy Adams and he was, accordingly, de-
clared elected. This confusing election was at that time called
" the scrub-race for the presidency," and a " scrub-race," you know,
is a race between '• scrubs " — that is, untrained and unpracticed
horses, boys or men.
There was, of course, a good deal of " back-talk " and hard feel-
ings over so mixed a contest ; and, as a result, new parties were
formed. At first they called themselves " Adams men," or '' Jack-
son men." Then the Democrat-Republican party which had started
in Jefferson's time took to itself the name of the Democratic Party,
by which it has ever since been known, and its opponents called
themselves, first, National-Republicans and afterwards Whigs.
John Quincy Adams was the son of a president — stout old John
Adams, the champion of Revolution and the successor of Washington
as President of the United States. Like his father, John Quincy
Adams was able, honest, uncompromising, independent and firm.
His administration was a success ; money was plenty and the people
were prosperous, but the president's firmness as to his own opinions
and his unwillingness to " give in " to the plans of others made
for him many enemies — especially among politicians, who, as a
rule, are quick haters. So, like his father, he was defeated when
nominated for a second term as jjresident ; but, with the good of liis
country at heart, he went into congress again as a member of the
House of Representatives from Massachusetts and there had a re-
markable career of seventeen years — the stout and merciless op-
ponent of whatever seemed to him unjust, tyrannical or wrong.
He was knowji both to friends and foes as the " Old Man Elo-
quent " ; of him it was said that he actually " died in harness,"
for in the Capitol at Washington is still pointed out the spot
where he fell, stricken down by paralysis in February, 1848, while
attending the debates of Congress. And in the Capitol ht, died
172 CITIZENS AND PARTIES.
It was during the administration of John Quincy Adams that nvo
important questions arose, impelling people to niiirli heated and
wordy discussion. These were the Taritt' and Internal Improve-
ments. They were what the people of that day called •■ burning ques-
tions " and one of them — the Tariti' — has not got through •• burn-
ing" yet, in 1891. The taritt' — which, by the way, is an old, old
question and comes away back from the Ai-abic \erb (irafa, to
inform — was originally a system of payments demanded by a
government on the goods sent away from or sent into its bor-
ders. In Great Britain and America this system of payments or
" duties " is demanded only on goods brouglit in from foreign
countries — "imports," as they are called. Early in the history
of the United States this question of the tariff led to a differ-
ence of opinion. Some people thought that American industries
would prosper only by " protection " — that is, by placing a high
tariff or duty on the same things that came in from other coun-
tries so that Americans could only afford to buy American-made
goods or products. Other people held that this was unjust — that
Americans ought to be allowed to buy the best they can get,
whether it was of American or foreign production and if Ameri-
can manufacturers wished American trade they must simply make
the best goods ; these people lield that the tariff should aft'ect the
things imported into America only so far as to liel]) raise the money
needed to carry on the government; this is what is still called "a
tariff for revenue only." High tariff, or protection, was advocated
by ])residents Monroe and Adams ; the money thus obtained was to
be expended by the government upon making roads and canals and
dredging harbors. This was called Internal Improvements and the
tariff and internal improvements, together, made up what was known
as the "American System."
But many people did not believe in this protection or the
" American System," as it was called. Especially in the South was
it disliked. There the people were farmers and not manufacturers,
CITIZENS AND PARTIES.
173
il'^
^:>^5^r"i2cy.aT-— -^~— ~==-s£g -, --;- jr:
DISCUSSING THE TARIFF IN 1828.
and they objected to payiiio- high prices on foreign goods simply, so
they claimed, to "protect" the Northern manufactnrer. During
President Adams' term, in 1828, the tariff was still further increased
and the South declared that this act was contrary to the Constitu-
tion. This question of the tariff really split the old Republican
174
CITIZENS AND PARTIES.
party in two and was the origin of the later opposing parties — the
Democrats and the Whigs.
The question of Internal Improvements was however settled for-
ever by the coming of tlie railroad, the telegraph and the other
wonderful things that were speedily to take the place of post road.s
and canals ; foi', being carried on by private enterprise and not by
Government, these new ■• ini[)rovements " took away the need of
paying out the Government's money for
r^r- "'"^ - such purposes.
^'* ' , For these inventions were to bring
^ about immense changes alike in the lives,
the habits and the characters of the peo-
ple. Uj) to 1825 the citizens of the United
States had been satisfied to live in the ways
of their fathers. They went from place
to place over poor roads, afoot or on horse-
back, in clumsy wagon, lumbering stage-
coach or heavy carriitge. Goods and
freight passed slowly from city to city
on sailing vessel, lazy flat-boat or creak-
ing wagon, and one of the chief obstacles
to the rapid develo|)ment of the western country was to be found
in the length of time, the labor, the risks and the expense of
getting from one point to another.
Fulton's invention and the first steamboats to which it led partly
solved this question, for it made travel upon ocean, lake and river
quicker and easier. But still it took too much time and trouble to
get from the seashore to the lakes and rivers of the west. Enter-
prise, however, has ever been one of the chief points in the Ameri-
can character, and enterprise soon solved this problem. A public
spirited and popular American statesman, De Witt Clinton, gov-
ernor of New York, advocated, worked for, and linally secured the
construction of a great canal that should join the lakes to tJ'a sea
A WESTERN FLAT-BOAT.
JOIl-V ijUIXrY ADAil.S.
iSUCh president of the United States.
CITIZENS AND PARTIES.
177
by stretching across New York State from the Hudson River to
Lake Erie. This '■ big ditch," as some people called it, was eight
years in building and was opened to the public on the fourth of
November, 1825, when Governor Clinton, having sailed its entire
length from Buffalo to Sandy Hook — a nine days' trip — poured
into the Atlantic from a gilded keg the water from Lake Erie
and declared the great canal "open." The act was significant.
It marked a new day of American progress and, by establishing a
direct and easy trade comnnmication with the West, it made New
York the metropolis of America.
About the same time a great " National Road " for inland com-
munication was laid out and constructed. It sti-etched from Mary-
land to Indiana and was intended for wagon
travel. It was a wise piece of work and would
have been a great and most important one
had not the railroad soon come in to conquer
distance and to get the best of time.
In 1828 the new parties had their first strong
grapple. Adams was overthrown and Andrew
Jackson of Tennessee was elected president.
New ideas were taking the place of old ones ;
the approach of a certain overturn in life and
manners was " in the air," and as Mr. Johnston
says, " the government was changed because
the people had changed."
Jackson's own story was proof of this. He
was what is called a " self-made man." He was
the first president to come directly from the ranks of " the peo-
ple." The son of a poor North Carolina borderer, he was born
into the very air of rebellion to tyranny and early imbibed a love
of liberty. The boy of fourteen who dared to refuse to black the
boots of his British captor was the same unyielding patriot who,
behind his crazy earthworks at New Orleans, grimly awaited that
DE WITT CLINTON.
178
CITIZENS AND PARTIES.
splendid British advance that he was to crush and hurl back into
defeat, the same loyal American who, when the South Carolina
" nullifiers " of 1832 threatened insurrection, could hui-st out hotlv:
THE R.UMVAY COACH OI-' OI'I! GRANDKAllIKItS.
"By the Eternal! the Union nuist and shall be preserved. Send
for General Scott ! "
The country was wonderfully prosperous when Jackson came
into office in 1820. The census of 18.30 showed a population of
nearly thirteen millions ; East and West were alike growing rapidly
in wealth and numbers ; manufactures were increasing ; new Indus-
CITIZEN a AND PARTIES.
179
Wk
en evefjf'^.m^a
\^iy.\ Kfr
Co bUer.
tries were springing up ; there were eighty-fi\ e hundred post-offices
in the country, and the sale of its western lands to the new settlers
brought into the national treasury- fully twenty-five millions of dol-
lars a year.
Before the close of Jackson's first administration the locomotive
engine of Stephenson had been introduced into America and Yankee
ingenuity was quick to adapt the idea to the needs of the land.
The first passenger train in America was run on the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad in 1830; the first successful American locomotive
was built in 183.3; before 1835 nineteen rail-
roads were being built or were in operation,
and before 1837 fifteen hundred miles of rail-
way were in use in the land.
The railroad changed every thing. Quicker
communication meant a busier and more pro-
ductive life for the nation ; and this quickly
came. Steamships began to cross and re-cross
the ocean ; gas was introduced in cities to take
the place of lamp and candle ; the reaping
machine hastened and enlarged farm work ;
coal was used as fuel ; the revolving pistol
did away with the old style of fire-arms ; fric-
tion matches took the place of flint and steel ;
Morse was feeling his way toward the tele-
graph ; education, books and newspapers were
increasing and improving everywhere, and the
United States of America seemed on the highroad to an unexampled
prosperity.
180
CHANGING DAYS,
CHAPTER XX.
CHANGING DAYS.
F Proisident Jackson's administration was the threshold of
change in American life and manners, politics and popnla-
tion, it also led men and women into a broader room for
action and advancement. The railroad and the telegraph
were not the only improvements that widened American
inliuence. The arm of the Yankee had thus far been stont to
chop and hew, to clear and build, to drain and dig ; but
new
growing ;
cities were
were coming closer together, as
canal and railroad took the place
of stage and .saddle ; men began
to think, to- desire, to invent;
the brain of the Yankee was
now to help the arm.
A new era in American think-
ing dates from " the thirties."
The contemptuous quer}' of the
famous English critic, Sydney
Smith : " Who ever reads an
American book ? " was soon to
be answered : " The world."
For, following the work of
Irving and Cooper, of Brynut
and Halleck and Drake, of Noah
Webster and Lindley Murray,
of Wilson and Audubon, came,
new neighborhoods were forming ; people
WASHINCilON' 1 1! Vise.
CHANGING DAYS.
181
soon after 1830, the first works of our modern American writers
— the poems of Whittier, Longfellow and Ilohnes, the romances
of Hawthorne, the historical work of Bancroft and Prescott, the
tales and poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Then, too, the greatest of
American orators — Daniel Wel)-
ster and Henry Clay — were in
their prime, stirring their fellow-
men by their power and their elo
quence, while, among lawyers,
the Americans Marshall, Kent
and Story were not surpassed
on either side of the Atlantic.
As men began to think their
consciences were aroused to ques-
tion the worth of everything
that was degrading or hurtful to
their fellowmen. Drunkenness,
common to all America, the
neglect of convicts in the pris-
ons, and negro slavery, debas-
ing both to master and man,
were attacked by those earnest
men and women that we now
call " reformers," but who were
U, r€o^e'?
('T^ OT'C'
Oc
'Oc'/
then called " fanatics," and the
way toward real American lib-
erty was widened by these pioneers of virtue. From that titne,
too (the days of President Jackson), dates the public school —
that system of free education that has been the uplifting and
strengthenina: of America.
As the railroads ran deeper into the land, settlement reached out
still further into the new sections ; the " frontier " shifted almost
with each year, and the pathfinder and the emigrant made more
182
CHANGING DAYS.
and yet more roadwaj's for civilization. In " the thirties " were
incorporated such new cities as Buffalo. Chicago, Cleveland. Colum-
bus, Memphis, Rochester and Toledo — centers of a growing trade
that, before the coming of canal or railroad, had been but frontier
posts, hai'd to reach and seemingly scarce worth settling. On the
rolling prairie, by the shore of the great lakes or on the banks of
some flowing western river the log cabin of the pioneer and the
rough clearing of the settler showed the begiiniings of a new
home ; the traveling schoolmaster
carried his knowledge from district
to district ; the cross-roads store or
tavern was the meeting place for
discussion, and the exchange of
news and opinions ; the circuit-
rider or traveling minister, counted
his congregation not by numbers
but by miles as, jogging along from
place to place, he carried in his
saddle-bags his theological library
— his Bible and hymn book, " Pil-
grim's Progress " and " Panadise
Lost " — and stopped to preach, to
talk, to marry oi- to l)Uiy, as his
services were needed ; up and down
the tow path of an Ohio canal
trudged a little fellow who, in after
years, was to be general, college
professor and ]iresident of the
United States; and. typical of Western advance, in 1833 there was
no Chicago — in 1839 it was a flourishing town Avith splendid
steamers running to its docks and with its store of merchandise
going south, west and north.
The administration of Jackson was an exciting time
besides the
CHANGING DAYS.
183
new movements in thought, and life that were making " the thirties "
a time of changing days^ the political questions and official acts,
that came to disturb men's minds and rouse them to fervid support
or violent opposition, were many. Jackson was a man of strong
opinions, likes and dislikes ; absolutely honest and with an imfalter-
ing will he loved his friends and hated his foes ; his administration
was a strong one and by its firmness made the country respected
abroad ; but it was filled with political quan'els and party strifes ;
people in office who opposed the president were ruthlessly turned
out to make room for his friends and supporters and a New York
senator, defending the president's system
of removals made the insolent announce-
ment that has since grown famous : " to
the victor belong the spoils." In the
forty years between Washington and Jack-
son there had been but seventy-four re-
movals from office ; during the first year
of Jackson's administration two thousand
office holders were " turned out " to make
room for the president's '• supporters."
For years the money that belonged to
the United States had been deposited in what was known as the
United States Bank. President Jackson believed that this was not
so beneficial to the people as if the money was scattered around
among the banks in the different States. So he made war on the
United States Bank and finally destroyed it.
Jackson also objected strongly to the " American system," of
which I told you in the last chapter. The Government, he said,
had no right to tax the people for making roads, digging canals and
dredging harbors. So he declared war on " internal improvements "
and again came out victorious.
Jackson, too, believed in the government of the United States.
It was, he claimed, the one authority to which all the States must
184
CHANGING DAYS.
ANDUKW JACKSON.
Seventh preaidtnt 0/ the U7iUed States.
ffive obedience. Some of the Southern leader;*. e.><pecially John C.
Calhoun of South Carolina, believed that the State.s were superior to
the general government and were at liberty to stay in the Union or
go out of it as they chose. He believed, also, that if Congress
made a law that was objectionable to any State, that State had the
right to refuse to obey it ; in other words, it could " nullify " or
CHANGING DAYS. 186
make of no avail an act of Congress. In 1832, South Carolina took
this step, declaring the tariff laAV of Congress " null and void " and
prepared to resist its enforcement. President Jackson acted
promptly.* He warned South Carolina that she must obey the law ;
he prepared to force the State to submit and he would certainly
have done so had not South Carolina yielded to the president.
So many stormy scenes must, of course, have made strong friends
and bitter foes for the stern soldier-president — " Old Hickory," his
friends loved to call him. When the time for the new election
came, in 1832, party differences ran hot and high ; but Jackson was
too firmly fixed in the hearts of the people, who admire pluck and
courage joined to honesty and firmness, and the president received
two hundred and nineteen out of the two hundred and eighty-eight
electoral votes and entered upon his second term. But, though de-
feated, the anti-Jackson men clung to their principles. They called
themselves Whigs, because the Whigs among their English ances-
tors had been those who resisted tyranny and they held that Presi-
dent Jackson was a tyrant. So the voters of the land were divided
into Jackson men and anti-Jackson men — into Democrats and
Whigs. The Democrats opposed the United States Bank ; the
Whigs desired its re-establishment. The Democrats opposed taxing
the people for " internal improvements ; " the Whigs wished the
government to foster these and pay for them by taxation. The
Democrats were believers in the rio-hts of the States ; the Whigs
said the General Government should be the supreme power.
When President Jackson's second tenn drew to a close he de-
clined a renomination and retired to his Tennessee farm, the only
president, so it has been said, who "went out of office far more
popular than he was when he entered."
But if he was popular with the masses, he had bitter enemies.
The Whigs did their best to elect an .anti-Jackson man ; but their
* Presiflent Jarkson was really a believer in the " States-rights " theory ; but he was presideut of the whole
Union and was brave enough to do his duty as president.
186
CHANGING DAYS.
councils were divided ; diii'erent leaders among them had their
strong partisans, and in the confusion into which their stubbornness
threw them they made no nomiiiatit)ii and President Jackson's
choice, Martin Van Buren of New York, was elected president, re-
ceiving one hundred and seventy electoi'al votes.
President Van Buren had been the strong and unfaltering sup-
porter of Jackson, whose Secretary
of State he had Ijeen for two years.
But Jackson's good fortune did not
follow his successor. The prosperity
of the country had led people into
unsafe and unwise speculations. Out
of the fight which ended in the over-
throw of the United States bank had
come the formation throughout the
country of small and unreliable banks
which lent money and issued their
own l)ills, and traded in public lands.
When forced to meet the bills they
had issued they had not gold and
silver enough to pay them and, " fail-
ing." let the loss fall on the people.
These irresponsible institutions were
called "wild-cat banks" and their
methods brought much distress on
the country. Too late for the pub-
lic safety the Government interfered
and only made things worse by refusing to receive the notes of
any banks. Business was thrown into confusion : piices fell ; crops
were poor; workmen lost their places and. in 1837, came the
crash. '• The Panic of 1837," as this time of disaster was called,
affected the whole country; rich men became poor; bank notes
were good for nothing ; distress and ruin threatened many homes;
M.Viill.V VAX liLKKN.
Eighth president of the United States.
CHANGING DAYS.
187
the United States government itself suffered in revenue ; the State
governments that had been drawn into the trouble " repudiated "
— that is, refused to pay — their debts and every thing was in
confusion. A special session of Congress was called and after
much discussion the trouble
was ended by the establish-
ment of what are known
as sub-treasuries in which
the money of the govern-
ment has ever since been
kept above the risk of
bank failures.
A countr}' with the re-
sources and opportunities
of the United States could
not long be set back by
such a disaster as was the
"panic of '37." Business
was conducted upon a safer
basis, people took up the
work again at bench and
plough and desk, resolved
to deal squarely and honest-
ly with one another and
trade .soon I'evived.
But Pi-esident Van Bu-
ren was not forgiven the
disaster that was really no
fault of his. People, how-
ever, are apt to blame the man at the helm when the ship goes
toward the rocks and Van Buren, they said, was an unsafe pilot.
At all events a change, they declared, would be a good thing,
and so, in 1840, after a campaign that Avas full of enthusiasm from
WILLIAM H1,M;Y IIAItltlSON.
yiiith president of the United States.
188
CHANGING DAYS.
one end of the land to the other, General William Henry Harri-
son, the "hero of Tippecanoe," was elected president. It was a
complete overturn in politics. The Democrats were defeated.
The Whigs secured for their candidate two hundred and thirty-
four out of the two hundred and ninety-four electoral V(^tes and
amid the most unbo:uided rejoicings, W^illiam Hoiry Harrison was
inaugurated as the ninth president
of the United States.
The rejoicing, however, was
short lived. Within a month from
his inauguration President Harri-
son died suddenly, and. in accord-
ance with the Constitution, the
Vice-President, John Tyler of Vir-
ginia, succeeded to the vacant
chair as president.
The succession proved disas-
trous to the W^higs. Tyler was
not in sympathy with the party
that had elected him ; he had
been nominated '■ to draw the
Southern vote " and ])efore he had
been long in office he showed that
his sympathies were really against
the Whigs.
Politics " tumbled" again. Par-
ties were divided and the very men who in 1840 had gone about
in procession and parade singing out the party chorus:
•■ We'll hurl littlo Van from liis station
And elevate Tippecanoe,"
.lilll.N IVI.KK.
Tenth president of the United States.
now were sorry enough at what they had done and were hot and
bitter against the president they had placed in power. One of their
THE SHADOW OF HISCOED.
180
party cries had been " Tippecanoe and Tyler, too ! " They had got
"' Tyler, too," now and still they were not happy.
In 184U the population of the United States had grown to over
seventeen millions. Two new States, Arkansas and Michia-an. had
been admitted to the Union and tlie " old thirteen " were now
twenty-six. A treaty with Grei"* Britain in 1842 pledged each
country to send back for trial an / criminal who had escaped from
justice ; it also settled the northern boundary of the United States,
which in 1839 had almost brought on a war between Maine and
New Brunswick. In 1837 Samuel F. B. Morse took out a patent
for his electric telegraph, and in 1844 the first telegraph line was
constructed, connecting Baltimore and Washington.
^^
i&
— ^=s*
CHAPTER XXI.
THE SHADOW OF DISCORD.
HE greatest man of tins nineteenth century — Abraham
Lincoln the American — said, years ago : " I believe this
government cannot endure permanently half slave and
half free." What had gone before, what followed later,
alike were proofs of this. When Pinzon the Sjjaniard
brought his negro slaves into Cuba in 1608 ; when the Dutch sea-
captain ran the first cargo of stolen Africans into the James River
in 1619 ; when Eli Whitney made cotton the " king " by his dis-
astrous invention of the cotton-gin in 1793 ; — and when, on the
other hand, the Pilgrims of the Mayflower landed at Plymouth in
1620 ; when the Declaration of Independence proclaimed the
equality of all men in 1776; when the stream of emigration bore
190 rUE SHADOW OF DISCORD.
the love of liberty into wes^tern wilderness and prairie, the causes
that led to what one statesman declared to be " an irrepressible con-
flict " were established.
When two boys who have been companions and bosom-friends
from infancy "get mad"" with one another — as boys (and girls,
too), sometimes will — the trouble grows greater as the cause of
the first pout or the first hasty word is dwelt upon and made to
lead to others. It was so with the two sections of the American
Union. Almost from the start they disagreed as to the extension
of negro slavery ; across that imaginary boundary, which the sur-
veyors appointed by William Penn and Lord Baltimore drew in
1763, and which has ever since been known as "Mason and Dixon's
line." the pout and shrug and hasty word were flung; the question
as to which had the most " right," which was " sovereign," the
State or the nation, was argued, discussed and quarreled over ;
minor questions as to just what the constitution meant when it said
this or that, and numerous differences of opinion on matters of na-
tional or sectional importance caused the boy at the south of Mason
and Dixon's line to say harsh words to the boy at the north ; and
the boy at the north, though too often willing to "give in " if only
he could keep on unmolested at his work of accumulating, some-
times flung back harsh words in reply to the boy at the south: and
so, little by little, the shadow of discord grew broader and blacker
raid matters slowly ripened for a real " getting mad " between these
two close comrades and fast friends.
In 1844 the United States of America were at peace with the
world; apparently they Avere at peace among themselves. With
the exception of certain local quarivls such as that in regard to
who should vote in the State of Khode Island (which led to what is
known as the " Dorr Rebellion " of 1844) and as to Avho should ])ay
rent for the land in New York (which led to "the Anti-rent War"
of 1844) there was nothing to disturb people or lead their thoughts
away from successful farming or manufacturing or money-getting.
THE SHADOW OF DISCORD.
lyi
But in 1844, Texas asked to come into the United States ; and this
brought about a renewal of the angry talk, while the shadow of
discord grew denser.
Texas (from the old Indian word lehas or /e/«s, "friends") was a
part of old Mexico. But when Mexico revolted from Spanish rule
and set up as a republic, many Americans, who liad settled in its
ANri-I!E.\TKl!S, DISGUISKD AS INDIANS, AMIiUSHING THE SHERIFF.
northern section, were led into disputes with the new republic as to
the ownership of the land ; the Mexican government was unjust
and ugly in its decisions, and the American element in Northern
Mexico forced that section into revolt in 1835. Under the lead of
a gallant fighter, known as General Sam Houston, the Republic cf
192 THE HHADOW OF DISCORD.
Texas was proclaimed. The new repvil)lic was avast territory larger
than all of Fnuiee, and when in 1844 it expressed a desire to join
the great northern repnblic as one of the United States the Southern
States rejoiced exceedingly, for this would bring on great increase
of power to the slave States ; on the other hand the North opposed
such an action l)0th as giving too nuich power to the slave States
and as a breach of friendship with Mexico, which had not yet ac-
knowledged the independence of Texas.
But the Southern leaders were determined to have Texas if they
could. The presidential election of 1844 turned on the question of its
annexation ; Henry Claj', the Whig candidate for president, was not
sufficiently emphatic in his objection to the "Texas scheme" to
please a certain section of the anti-slavery men at the North who
called themselves the Liberty party ; their hostility lost Clay the
State of New York, and the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk,
was elected president by a vote of one hundred and seventy of the
two hundred and seventy-five electoral votes.
Of course Texas was annexed ; and in December, 1845, she was
admitted to the Union. Florida came in just before her, in March,
1845, and it so happened that the vast southwestern commonwealth
was the lastshive State to be admitted to the Union. For from that
day the shadow of discord grew heavier and blacker.
President Polk's administration witnessed many signs of prog-
ress in the land. In 184G. Elias Howe invented the sewing-machine ;
in 1847, Richard M. Hoe invented his c^dindcr printing press; in
1846, Dr. Morton discovered the use of ether, and thus were house-
hold labor, the spreading of news and the bearing of pain made
lighter and easier.
But the administration of President Polk al.so plunged the country
into war. It jiresented also the example of the strong punishing
the weak — never a pleasant spectacle and one that is apt to lead to
the question with which so many boys are familiar : '• Say, why
don't you take one of your size ? " For in May, 1846, the re-
THE SHADOW OF DISCORD.
193
public of the United States declared war against the republic of
Mexico.
To be sure Mexico was ugly and quarrelsome. She held a grudge
against the United States for helping and taking Texas ; she owed
American citizens money and refused to pay her debts ; she growled
in most emphatic Spanish about the boundary lines the United States
demanded ; she threatened all sorts
of things. But it was largely talk.
Mexico had no wish to fight the
United States ; she was ready to
consider a peaceful settling of the
matter ; but, all too hastily, in April,
1846, President Polk ordered General
Zachary Taylor to take possession of
the disputed strip of land on the
boundary ; there was a meeting be-
tween American and Mexican sol-
diers ; shots were fired ; men were
killed, and the war was begun.
It was not difficult at the outset
to tell what the end would be.
Mexico was torn by quarrels and
feuds ; her soldiers were untrained ;
her war materials poor ; her treas-
ury almost empty ; her leaders ig-
norant and inefficient. The United
States troops were well officered and maneuvered, and though the
Mexican soldiers were brave fighters and repeatedly outnumbered
the Americans — sometimes five to one — the superiority of Ameri-
can drill and American leadership always won the day. From first
to last the war was a series of victories and, though we question the
justice of the quarrel and deplore the quite unnecessary fight, we
cannot but swing our caps over the pluck, the persistence and the
J.\.MES K. POLK.
EUceiith president 0/ tfie United States.
194 THE SHADOW OF DISCORD.
valor ot the American s^oldiers and their leaders. In a hostile and
unknown land, against the odds of heavier numbers, stubborn resist-
ance, miserable roads, lack of supplies and an unhealthy coiuitry. the
American soldiers fought theii' way to victory and made the names of
Palo Alto and Buena Vista, of Cerro Gordo and Contreras, of Cheru-
busco and Chapultepec glorious in the annals of bravery, while the
names of such generals as Taylor and Kearney, Scott and Worth do
but lead the roll of the daring and heroic men who followed them
to the end.
By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which put an end to this two
years' war, the territory of the United States was greatly increased.
The immense section now occupied hy Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,
Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California, nearly a million s([uare miles
in e.xtent, was added to the republic ; fifteen millions of dollars were
paid to Mexico for the territory thus given up ; peace was declared
and the victorious Americans returned to their homes in the North.
But if the war had been an unjust one on the part of the United
States, it brought about trouble enough in the end and deepened
the shadow of discord into a dense and overhanging cloud. At
once, after the new territory' had been secured, the South demanded
that it be made slave soil : the North as strongly objected and de-
manded that slavery should be therein forbidden. Again it looked
as if the boy at the south and the boy at the north of Mason and
Dixon's line would come to blows; but they decided finally to leave
the (juestiou to those who should settle on the new lauds, and thus
an uncertain condition of affairs was brought about. This, because
it was in the hands of those who hurriedly .settled (or ''.squatted")
on the vacant lands, was known as "squatter sovereignty," and the
black looks across the line still continued.
In 1848, General Zachary Taylor, "'the hero of Buena Vista," was
elected president of the United States. There was a feeling tiirough-
out the country that " old Rough and Ready," as he was called, liad
not been well-treated by the Government during the v;ar, and the
AT BUENA VISTA.
" Tke Ameiican soldiers fun yht their way U. victory."
THE SHADOW OF DISCORD.
197
opponents of the party in power eagerly took him as their candidate.
The result was a victory for the Whigs, but their soldier-president
did not long survive his last victory, for he died after only a year
and four months of office. The vice-president, Millard Fillmore,
succeeded to the vacant
found himself
by important
chair and
confronted
questions.
In 1846, the long-stand-
ing dispute with England
as to the northern boundary
of the United States ended
in a treatv which gave to
the United States all the
country south of that d
gree of latitude marked en
the maps as forty-nin
The United States held oi t
some time for possession as
far as fifty-four degrees and
forty minutes north lati-
tude, and some were even
ready to go to war ovei*
it, with their battle-cry
of " Fifty-four Forty or
Fi<i:ht ! " but better councils
prevailed and the treaty
of 1844 settled the dispute.
The United States now
owned the Pacific coast from the head of the Gulf of California to
the shores of Puget Sound. It was a noble empire, but little was
known of it in the East, save as the land of Indians, fur-traders
and cattle-raisers. But suddenly, in 1849, came the news : " There
ZACH.^RY TAYLOU.
Twelftk president of the United States,
198
THE SHADOW OF DISCORD.
is gold in Ciilifornia ! " The precious metal had hccii discovered in
the Sacrainciito River country ; it was said that nosui-h gold mines had
ever before been found and at once there was a great rush to •• the
diggings." The news s]n-ead ; the " finds "proved richer and richer;
tlic rush to the Pacific broke into a
regular " gold fever " that attacked
the world; all classes caught it; around
" the Horn," across the isthmus, over
the plains the gold seekers hurried,
and into the old half-Spanish quiet
of California came the excitement,
the fever, the haste, the selfishness,
the ti'reed and the dano-er that always
accompany the mad race for wealth.
Within two years a hundred thou-
sand peo])le had gone into California;
San Francisco grew into a city of
twenty thousand inhabitants and, wher-
ever gold was found, there men risked
all for fortune ; but while some ob-
tained the prize they sought, many
others foimd only failure, loss, ruin
and death.
But the majority of the gold hunters
of '49, though absorbed in their
search for wealth, were still Americans ; they soon realized the
need of a strong government and some higher authority than the
self-appointed '' committees " of cabin, camp and settlement. In
1849, they set up a state government of their own and asked for
admittance into the Union. Then there was trouble at once. The
constitution of the newly-formed State prohibited .■slavery; part of
its territoiy lay south of the line marked out at the time of the
Missouri Compromise, and the South demanded that slavery be
.MII.LAKU I'lLLMOHE.
Thirttitnth president of the United States.
THE SHADOW OF DISCORD.
199
allowed in the new State. Othei- troubles arose. Texas claimed a
part of New Mexico, which had been ceded to the United States ;
the South demanded that its runaway slaves who escaped to the
North should be returned to their masters; the North demanded
that the buying and selling of negro slaves in the capital of the
nation be stopped.
So the shadow was growing denser, when Henry Clay endeavored
to suggest a "compromise" that should "fix things" all right.
This was called the " Omnibus Bill"
or the "Compromise of 1850," be-
cause it undertook to settle all the
disputes, and to hold, as does an omni-
bus, all that can be crowded into it.
By this compromise it was agreed to
admit California into the Union with-
out slavery ; the buying and sell-
ing of slaves were to be prohibited
in the District of Columbia, but
slavery itself was not prohibited
there ; ten million dollars were paid
Texas to give up her claim to New
Mexico ; in the territories formed of
the new lands slavery was neither
forbidden nor allowed, and a Fugitive
Slave Law was passed.
But the " Compromise of 1850 " did
not settle things. There was, es-
pecially, a fierce opposition to the
Fugitive Slave Law which made the United States officers slave-
catchers. But when the election of 1852 came around the opposition
was divided. The Southern Whigs and the Northern Wliigs had a
falling out ; the Liberty party now calling itself the Free-soil party,
denounced the Fugitive Slave Law ; a good many men refused to
FI'.AXKLIX PIEKCli.
Fourteenth, president of the United Slutei.
200
THE SHADOW OF JJISVORD.
vote at, all because they did not like any of the things offered
them, and Franklin Pierce, the Democratic candidate, was elected
president with two hundred and fifty-four electoral votes.
Then came four yeais more of talk and trouble. Anti-.slavery
feeling grew in the North ; the boastings about the supreme rights
of the States increased in the South. In 1854 the new territories
of Kansas and Nebraska, west of
the Missouri River, were set ajiart,
and the question of the admission of
slavery therein was left to the de-
cision of the settlers themselves —
a case of " squatter's sovereignty "
again.
When this measure, known as
the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, was in-
troduced into Congress, there was
a great stir. By the Missouri Com-
promise of 1820 which, you remem-
ber, prohibited slavery north of the
southern boundary of Missouri, the
new teriitories by right were to be
forever " free soil." But the leaders
of the majority in Congress, to gain
their purpose, voted to repeal the
Missouri Compromise and to let the
people who entered the new terri-
tory make it slave or free as they preferred.
This led to a terrible time. People poured into the new territo-
ries. The free-state people and the slave-state people alike sought
to obtain the mastery ; there were mobs and fightings and feuds of
the most bitter and bloody kind. But the free-soil people at last
prevailed and in the very heat of the struggle came the election
of 1856.
JAMES BUCHANAN.
Fifteenth i)rt:&idtnt oj the United States.
THE SHADOW OF DISCORD. 201
By this time tlie Whig party was broken in pieces. Out of it
came those who opposed the stupid repeal of the Missouri Compro-
mise, who objected to the Fugitive Shave Law and who sided with
the free-state people in the Kansas trouble. These joined with the
Free-soil party and formed what has ever since been known as the
Republican party. They selected as their candidate for president,
Colonel John C. Fremont, " the Pathfinder," who had blazed a path
across the Rocky Mountains, conquered California and led the way
Avestwardfor settlement and civilization. The Democrats nominated
James Buchanan of Pennsylvania who had been President Polk's
Secretary of State ; while a third party, which opposed giving place
or office to foreigners, and which was called the American or " Know
Nothing" party re-nomin;ited President Fillmore. The struggle
was bitter ; but Buclianan was elected president by one hundred
and seventy-four of the two hundred and ninety-six electoral votes.
Fremont, however, carried nearly all the free States with an electoral
vote of one hundred and fourteen, and when the South saw this
sure and steady growth of anti-slavery feeling, her leaders realized
that their power was slipping away and the shadow of discord, now
grown into the blackest of clouds, seemed ready to burst upon the
heads of the people.
202
FOR UXION.
CHAPTER XXII.
FOR uxrox.
N 1860, in spite of the increasincr dnnger of their political
trouljles, the United States of America were wonih-rfnlly
prosperous. PopuLation had grown to more than thirty-
one millions ; the roll of States now numbered thirty-three
— Iowa ha\'ing been admitted to the Union in 1846, Wis-
consin in 1818, California in 185(J, Minnesota in 1858 and Oregon
in 1859 ; there were over thirty thousand miles of railroad in opera-
tion and thousands of miles of telegraph ; American commerce
occupied the second place in the world ; American agriculture stood
first ; coal and gold, silver and copper were dis-
covered in productive mines, and in Penn- ^
sylvania the finding of petroleum beds in 1859,
led to almost as much excitement as the dis-
covery of gold in California ten years before.
The public schools now numbered over a hun-
dred thousand, while four hundred colleges
cared for the advanced education of the young.
Machinery was finding entrance into almost
every occupation of life, from farming to slioe
making and sugar refining ; the cities were
improving alike in size and in comforts ; the
police and fire departments were oi'ganized into
almost military discipline ; the laying of a tel-
egraph line beneath the ocean to England was
attempted in 1857, and the United States were believed to be wortli
in property and money fully sixteen billions of dollars.
-yf-
FOR UNION.
203
But money is not everything in the upbuilding of a nation.
Principle and character are of first importance. Beneath all this
prosperity were dissatisfaction and discord. The advance in wealth
and facilities had been confined to the North ; in this great pros-
perity the South did not seem to be a .sharer. A few wise ones at
the South saw that this condition was due to slavery ; but the
people had not yet learned that slave labor can never build a suc-
cessful State, and they tried all the harder to win in a losing fight.
DINAH morris's certificate of freedom.
In the North since first in 1777, Dinah Morris, the Vermont slave,
was given her " freedota papers," slavery had dwindled and died
away; in the South it had grown steadily. In the North everybody
had to work to live ; in the South work was considered as " low ; "
and so there came to be, at the South, three classes — the rich
Ivhites, the poor whites and the negro slaves.
The free States were growing in the North ; there was but little
204 FOR UNION.
cliance for the introduction of slavi'rv in the new Territories ; the
plan to purchase Cuba had fallen through ; the slave power in Congress
was fast being outnumbered by the free-soil supporters ; the three
hundred and fifty thousand slaveholders of the South saw that they
would soon be no match in politics or power for the freeholders of
the North; soon the South must submit to the will of the majority.
Feeling as they did ; believing, as they had always been taught to
believe, in the supreme right of the State to say what it wanted and
what it would have; seeing the power slipping away from them and
thinking that without slave labor ruin was certain to come upon them,
it is scarcely to be wondered at that the leaders in the South tried
first to force things in their favor, and, failing in this, threatened to
withdraw from the Union whenever they saw fit.
For years their hold upon the Government, aided by the selfish
desire of people in the North to avoid all trouldc and annoyance had
given the Southern leaders ''the say" in national affairs. It was
these leaders who had brought al)out the ]nn-chase of the vast
territory of Louisiana in 1803; they had insisted on the slavery
line in the Missouri Compromise in 1820; they had demanded the
annexation of Texas in 1845; they had put into effect the cruel
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 ; they had forced the unwilling and
fatal '• squatter sovereignty " clause into the Kansas-Nebraska bill of
1851 ; they had attempted to bring about the acquisition of Cuba in
1854 ; they had forced from the Supreme Court the decision that it
was the duty of Congress to protect slavery in tlie territories (known
as the " Dred Scott Decision" of 1850); they had sought, as a
desperate measure of safety, to reintroduce the horrible African
Slave Trade in 1859, and, as a final move, they had asserted in 18G0
their determination to leave the Union — to "secede" — unless
they obtained their " rights."
But the leaders of the North were growing each year more and
more determined. To be sure the people did not pay very much
attention to all this talk ; they were too ])usy about their own
FOR UNION.
•205
affairs. But those who did look into things declared that it was time
to put an end to Southern presumption. To the Southern leaders
they said : You can regulate the slave question so far as your own
section is concerned, but you must not try to force the North and
West into slavery. You have broken the agreement of 1820,
AMONG THE SI'GAR TANK.
known as the Missouri Compromise, but we will make Kansas a
free State in spite of you ; you have compelled the courts to say
that Congress must protect slavery in the territories, but this we
will never consent to ; you have shoAvn a desii'e to make slavery
a national institution, but that you shall never do ; and we warn
you that the Constitution does not admit the right of any State to
206 FOR UNION.
say just what it shall do or how it shall act, and that no State
has a right to leave the Union of its own accord.
The breach was widening. The United States of America were
becoming sectional — that is, slavery, believed in by the South, ab-
horred by the North, was setting North and South at enmity. To-
day slavery is dead, and North and South can never again be arrayed
against one another ; but in 18GU slavery tinged everything. The
love of it led to the brutal assault upon Senator Charles Sumner of
Massachusetts and beat him from his chair in the Senate in 1856 ;
the hatred of it led to the armed attack in Virginia in 1859 precipitated
by a free-soil partisan and known as " John Brown's raid," and both
the attack on Sumner and the " raid " of John Brown, though both
were the result of a fiery fanaticism and though neither of them
were due to the plottings of rival parties, were still fastened upon
the sections from which the actors came, and increased the growing
anger that was showing itself North and South.
It was in the midst of this growing discord that the presidential
election of 1860 came as, what we call, the climax. The Democratic
party split in two and made separate nominations ; the Republican
party raised the cry of '• No extension of slavery ! " and by a total
of one hundred and eiarhtv electoral votes carried the day, and
Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was elected president.
The hottest and most determined of the Southern States was
South Carolina. From the days of President Andrew Jackson and
the '• Nullifiers," it had always maintained its right to leave the
Union, and the election of Lincoln gave it the opportimity it .sought.
A Northern president, backed by the Northern people, means the
downfall of the South, said South Carolina. I shall leave the Union,
and you, my comrades of the Cotton States, if you knoAv what is best
for you, will go out too.
The State Convention of South Carolina at once assembled and on
the twentieth of December, 1860. passed an •' ordinance of .secession,"
willed out the act by which the State had .so many years before de-
FOR UNION.
207
clared its accej^tance of the Constitution of the United States, and
declared that " the Union now subsisting between South Carolina
and other States, under the name of the United States of America "
was dissolved.
Led on by the bold stej) of South Carolina the other " Cotton
States" followed suit, and in January and February, 1861, similar
ordinances of secession were passed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
Acting quickly, the secession element in the seven rebellious
States at once proceeded to '' force the issue." They sent delegates
to a o;eneral convention held at Montacomerv in
Alabama, set up a government under the name
of the Confederate States of America, adopted
a constitution (that was almost exactly the same
as the Constitution of the United States, with
slavery and State sovereignty added), elected
Jefferson Davis as president, established " depart-
ments" of state, war, the treasury, the navy,
etc., decided upon a great seal and Hag (popu-
larly called the " stars and bars," as against the
"stars and stripes"), and prepared to defend
their action by war if need be. But, they all
declared, that will scarcely be necessary ; the North will not fight.
And. at first, it did look as though the North would not flight.
President Buchanan did nothing ; he said he did not see how he could
prevent a State from seceding if it really desired or attempted to ;
the politicians said : 0, the trouble will be fixed up with another
compromise ; the chief associates of the president were really in
sympathy with the secessionists, and when Congress adjourned in
March, 1861, no step had been taken to secure the protection or
uphold the dignity of the United States of America.
Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as president of the United
States on the fourth of March, 1861. At once he found himself
GREAT SEAL OF THE
FEDERACV."
t^
.>
208 FOR UNION.
face to face with the greatest difficulties. He was the head of a
new party, without experience and without standing. He was con-
fronted by seven States in open robolhon to the constituted authority
of the National Goverinnent. The men from whose hiinds lie
received the reins of power were hostile to his party and his |iriii-
ciples and had helped rather than hindered . tlie efforts of the
" State's Rights rebels." Forts, arsenals, mints, custom houses,
ship yards, naval stores and other public properties of the United
States had been deliberately seized by the States within whose borders
they were located, and transferred to the new " Confederate "
srovernment. The little army of the United States had been
scattered and forced tosurrender to the rebels. Officers of the army
and navy, representatives and senators in Congress and officials in
Vj' the ser\ace and pay of the United States, declared that they must
" follow their State," resigned their stations or offices and went to
their homes. In the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Fort
Sumter, one of the very few forts still held by the United States
troops, was surrounded and besieged by the South Carolina forces,
iind, of the navy of the United States, only two insignificant vessels
were ready for service along the whole Atlantic coast. To such a
pass had Southern scheming and the sympathy or stupidity of the
party in power brought the dignity and the ability of the United
States.
Abraham Lincoln was clear-headed and far-sighted. He felt that
the new administration stood on dangerous ground. One hasty
move, one tyrannical act might turn the tide against tlie Union —
and with him the preservation of the Union was the leading desire.
His inaugural address, now held by critics to be one of the great-
est state papers in history, while full of the hope of peace, was still
firm and unfaltering in its purpose to maintain the Union, whatever
happt'ued.
" The Union is unbroken." he said ; " and to the extent of my
ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins
AliKAHAM LIXCOLN.
Sixteenth president of the United States.
FOR union:
211
upon me, that tlie laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all
the States." And then, placing the responsibility where it rightly
belonged — upon those who struck the first blow — he said : " In
your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is
the momentous issue of civil war. You can have no conflict without
being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in
heaven to destro}^ the Government, while I have the most solemn
one to preserve, protect and defend it."
There is an old, old proverb that declares: Whom the gods would
destroy they first make mad. The destruction of slavery was
ordained ; but its supjjorters were surely mad-
dened and blinded by passion or they would
have heeded, before it was too late, the tender
appeal to their memories with which this first
inaugural of President Lincoln concluded : " We
are not enemies," he said, " but friends. We
must not be enemies. Though passion may
have strained, it must not break our bonds of
affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretch-
ing from every battle-field and patriot grave
to every living heart and hearthstone all over
this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of
the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better
angels of our nature."
But kind words and brotherly appeals were of no avail. The
leaders of the South were determined. And when, in April, President
Lincoln ordered a fleet to sail to Charleston with supplies to the
starving garrison of Fort Sumter, the fiery cry for action came from
the chiefs of the rebellion. "■ You must sprinkle blood in the face
of the people ! " one of them declared. South Carolina, as she had
led the revolt, fired the first shot. On the twelfth of April, 1861,
the Confederate batteries in Charleston Harbor opened fire upon
Fort Sumter which, for thirty-si.x hours, the commandant, Major
SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES.
Die of ISSo.
212
FOR UNION.
Robert Anderson, held in the face of a fierce bombardment. Tlien
with ammunition exhausted, provisions gone and the buihUng on fire,
Major Anderson surrendered. Tlie tiag of tlie Union gave place to
the Hag of rebellion and the first victory of secession was won.
But it was a victory that proved defeat. The South had struck
tlie first blow and that settled the question in the North. The word
" Sumter has been fired on," flew from cit}' to city and from town
KORT SmiTER IN CHAULKSTOX trARBOR.
to town. There was but one response : The Union shall be
preserved ! The North which — so the Southern leaders had de-
clared— would be torn and rent by feud and dispute if civil
war was threatened, became, instead, united in an instant. Men
who had bitterly opposed one anotber in ])olitics now joined
hands in defense of an imperiled Union. From school-house and
court-house, from church and railway station, from hotel, from
A FIGHT FOR LIFE.
il3
public building and froua private house, the flag of the Union
was flung to the breeze; and when, the day after Sumter, Presi-
dent Lincoln declared the Southern States in rebellion, and called
for volunteers to put it down, the struggle for life or death was
at hand.
CHAPTER XXIII.
A FIGHT FOR LIFE.
HAT shot at Sumter, as has been shown, roused the North
to action. "' Why, this is open rebellion ! " everybody
cried, and at once without regard to party the men of the
North — • Republicans and Democrats alike — sprang to
arms. President Lincoln, on the fifteenth of April, called
for seventy-five thousand men " to put down the rebellion " ; four
times as many responded ; militia regiments hur-
ried to the defense of Washino;ton ; old soldiers C^^^J^
who had seen service were in demand as officers: ' /M'P'i'"'' ''
money for war purposes was voted
by States and cities ; the '* war gover-
nors " were patriotic, active and alert ;
new regiments were speedily formed
or " recruited " in every Northern State,
and though the city of Washington lay
on the border of the Southern land it
was soon so circled with Union troops
that \i» safety was speedily assured.
But the " war-fever " was not confined
214
A FIGHT FOR LIFE.
to the North. The conflict was to be a struggle between Ameri-
can citizens, and when once the American spirit of resistance
is aroused, enthusiasm and determination know no section. The
South, led into war by the efforts of its leaders, was bound to follow
the lead of South Carolina. The attack on Sumter and the rising in
the North were followed by quite as much ex-
citement and enthusiasm in the South ; one
after another the secedino; States wheeled into
line ; the Confederate Government called for
thirty-five thousand volunteers, and, as in the
North, four times as many offered their services.
Men enlist to fight for various reasons. Love
of excitement, hope of reward, desire for glory,
love of country — these are the principal causes,
and in the war between the States, from 1861
to 1865, these reasons led many young men
to leave their comfortable homes, their studies, their occu})ations,
their pleasures and their gains, and with sword at side or gun at
shoulder to march South or North to fight for a jjrinciple dear
alike to eacli.
From the attack on Sumter on the twelfth of April, 1861, and the
first blood at Baltimore on the nineteenth of April following, down
to the surrender of General Lee, the chief of the Confederate forces,
on the ninth of April. 1865 — almost four years to a day — the
fight for life, for Union, for supremacy, went fiercely on. All too
soon the people, North and South, awoke to the sad truth that this
Avas an American war — a " duel to the death," a strife between
equally brave and equally determined foemen. The seventy-five
thousand volunteers first called for in the North grew to an ai-mv
of three million men before the end came ; the thirty-five thousand
volunteers of the South grew to a million and a half. Li 1863
Avhen the strife was at its height and the struggle was the fiercest,
the North had nearly a million men in the field ; tlie South hiul
A FIGHT FOR LIFE.
215
seven hundred thousand. The North, as the defenders of the
Union, operating in a hostile country, had need for a larger force
than the South ; conquered territory must be garrisoned ; lines
of commimication needed to be kept open and defended, and a
stretch of battle front reaching from the Mississippi to the sea de-
manded constant watching to prevent invasion, raid or occupation.
IN THE ENLISTMENT OFFICE.
Steadily, year by year, the power of the Union was more and
more displayed. The South fought bravely, stubbornly, heroically,
but from the first the result of the struggle could be foreseen. The
North had the stronger arm and this at last must win the day. But
216 A FIGHT FOR LIFE.
when that day came the cost of the fearful fiuht had been six hun-
dred thousand Northern and Southern lives laid down for a principle
and six thousand millions of dollars spent. This it had cost to destroy
the doctrine of the sovereign power of the State as opposed to the
supremacy of the nation, to do awa\" forever with slavery on Ameri-
can soil and to make of the United States a real nation ; this it had
cost to make the republic a unit, to secure perpetual peace and a
lasting union to all Americans forever.
The war was a stubborn strife, not because of any hatred between
North and South — for this there really was not — but because of
the determination of both contesting sides to win. Fi-om 180 1 to
1863 the government at Washington was busied in surrounding the
confederacy in its encircling grasp; from 1863 to 1865 this grasp
was gradually (dosed and tightened until it held within it the armies
and the cities of the South. The battle of Gettvsburg in the East
and the capture of Vicksburg in the West, on or about the fourth of
July, 1863, marked the turning point of the war.
Even in the first year of the war, although the Union army lost
its first great battle (Bull Run, July 21, 1861), and in the West found
itself defeated at Wilson's Creek (August 10, 1801), it still advanced
its lines into the southern territory and narrowed the limits of
the Confederacy. In the second year, still more territory was cap-
tured ; but, within its lessening territory, the Confederate army stood
firm and confident, undismayed by its defeat at Antietam in the
East (September 17, 1862) and Pittsburgh Landing in the West
(April 7, 1802). In the third year both sides being now trained to
war, clinched for a decisive grapple. General Lee and his splen-
didly disciplined army in the East made a wonderful attempt to
break throuuh the Union lines and invade the North, but fell back,
baflled and defeated, at Gettysburg (July 3, 1863). Lookout Moun-
tain gave the victory to the Union army in the West, and the
grapple of 1863 ended in a loss of strength and confidence for the
South. In the fourth year the fight raged about Kiehmond, now
a
'S
o
H
SI
O
O
A FIGHT FOR LIFE. 219
the Confederate capital, where Lee, proving liimself a great soldier,
was at last pitted against a greater — General U. S. Grant. There
it became the fight of the giants, while at the West General Sher-
man utterly crushed out the Confederate army and making his bold
and remarkable "march to the sea," hurried northward to give his
help to Grant. In the fifth year the Union grasp tightened ; the
forces of the Confederacy lay now within the hand of the Federal
government ; its territory had shrunk to the narrow sea strip be-
tween Richmond and Charleston ; Sherman drew nearer to Grant ; in
April the end came ; the grasp closed around the encircled Confed-
erates and the surrender of General Lee on the ninth of April, 1865,
wdth the consequent surrender of General Johnston on April 26
closed the stubborn strife, and ended the possibility of Americans
ever again meeting in the shock and struggle of civil war.
The war between the States had been fought for a principle, and
by its results that principle was forever assured — the Union was
established, the nation was supreme. " My paramount object," said
President Lincoln, "is: to save the Union." He did save it; and
Americans can never cease to revere the unfaltering faith in his
cause that sustained the great president, nor need they ever reyret
the cost in blood and treasure at which the American Union was
saved from destruction.
But the war settled other questions than that of national suprem-
acy. Especially did it end forever on American soil the curse of
human slavery. From the first, men saw — more and more clearly
as the days went by — that slavery was doomed. The war was not
fought to abolish slavery, but slavery was abolished because of the
war. The conflict, however, had been raging a year and a half ;
twenty thousand men had laid down their lives ; eighty thousand
had been maimed or crippled in battle and many other thousands had
been stricken down by sickness and disease before the stern necessity
that men knew existed but that the Government hesitated to ac-
knowledge was made into an absolute deed — emancipation. But
220
A FIGHT FOR LIFE.
zs^^'"^^
irrURRET\,
the step was taken at last. Five days after the battle of Antietam
— on the twent^'-second of September, 1862 — President Lincoln
made the greatest move of the war and issued a proclamation de-
claring that on and after the first day of January, 1863, " all persons
held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the
people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States
shall be thenceforward and forever free." On the first of January-.
1863, the official proclamation of emancipation was issued. "And
thus." says Mr. Schurz, '' Abraham
Lincoln Avrote his name upon the
books of history with the title dearest
to his heart — the liberator of the
slave."
Fiorhtinar is a blood \- and brutal ex-
pedient — a course always to be avoided
if in justice and honor it can be
avoided. But when war comes it must
be made effective by every possible
means. The abolition of slavery was
one of these means ; the abolition of
wooden war-ships was another. Tbe
war led thinking people to suggest and
invent many improvements in firearms, camp equipage and the mu-
nitions of war, but the cunning brain of Captain John Ericsson revo-
lutionized the navies of the world and showed that iron could float
and fight on the water. The story of his little ironclad vessel, the
Monitor, is as simple as it is stirring. The Confederates had taken
the captured frigate, Merrimac, fitted her with an iron overcoat and
sent her to destroy the Union Avar-ships around Fortress Monroe.
This she did and was about starting out on a voyage of destruction
among the sea-coast cities of the North, wlien on the morning of the
ninth of March, 1862, the little Monitor (" a cheese-box on a raft,"
so the Confederates called her ), appeared on the scene, fought the
A FIGHT FOR LIFE.
221
Merrimac for four hours and drove her back to cover. From that
day wooden war-vessels were doomed. Ironchids were built by all
the nations as the only safe and sure kind of sea-fighters; and " the
white squadron" of 1891 is the natural result in the navy of the
United States of Ericsson's plucky little Monitor.
The war, though terrible and bloody, really helped to make men
and women gentler and more thoughtful. It taught tl^e people to
look after those who were fighting their battles for them. Societies
were formed for the careful protection of the soldiers' interests : to
help them as they marched to battle, to help them as they lived in
camp, to help them as they fell wounded on the field, to help them
as they lay sick or maimed in hospital, to help them as they returned
disabled to their homes. The greatest of
the societies, the United States Sanitary
Commission, expended millions of dollars
in thus helping the soldiers. And, last
but not least, the humanity that was a
result of this long and bitter war was one
of its most blessed influences. The war
was in fact an armed I'ebellion against
national authority. Such uprisings, before
and since, have always, when imsuccessful,
been attended by punishment for treason
inflicted by the victorious government.
The American civil war resulted in the
triumph of the national government, and
yet not one " rebel " was punished for
his treason ; not one of the leaders of
the revolt was made to suffer the historic penalty of his action.
The war had been in nrogress for more than three years when in
November, 1864, a presidential election was held. The minority
party — those timid Northerners who declared that the war was a
failure and ought to cease — rallying under the Democratic banner,
WORKING FOR THIS SOLDIERS.
222
A FIGHT FOR LIFE.
■<^1
7
nominated for president, General George B. MeClellan, one of the
brilliant but unsuccessful Union generals — a reuiarkable organizer
of forces, but not a successful leader of troops ; the Republicans
(including very many "war Democrats") re-nominated Abraham
Lincoln, and the result proved their wisdom. Mr. Lincoln was re-
elected by two hundred
and twelve out of the two
hundred and thirty-three
electoral votes and. under
his guidance, the war was
fought out to the end that
was, even then, in sight.
But, when that end
came, the great president,
through whose wisdom
and patience it had been
reached, fell suddenly —
the chief martyr of the
great conflict, done to
death by the bullet of
an obscure assassin, from
no other reason than a
desire for that notoriety
that Americans, it is
hoped, will never grant. Abraham Lincoln may well be called
the great American. Springing from the people, reared in poverty,
struggling against hardship, attractive neither in form nor feature,
with everything against him. he yet conquered every obstacle and
rose from the obscurity of a backwoods " railsplitter " to be presi-
dent of the United States, preserver and savior of the Union and
the o-reatest, the best and the most honored of modern Americans.
vg'-^-fci^
ke
v.
^ . fNea.r Hodcrensville. ky.
JrVesiclent Ijincom .
A REUNITED NATION.
223
CHAPTER XXIV.
A REUNITED NATION.
IBRAHAM LINCOLN died on the fifteenth of April, 1865.
Amid the tremendous excitement that followed the intelli-
gence of the dastardly deed and aroused all the vindictive
passions of startled men and women, Andrew Johnson of
Tennessee, elected as vice-president, took the oath of office
and became president of the United States.
The war was over. The veteran soldiers of Generals Grant and
Sherman marched in final review before
the officers of the government they had
saved. The tattered armies of the Con-
federacy, surrendering to foemen who
worked in the spirit of the dead presi-
dent's grandest words : " With malice
toward none, with chaiuty for all," re-
turned to their homes, and two million
Northern and Southern fighters became
again Jaw-abiding citizens, honest, hard-
working, ambitious Americans.
The war was over; but now came
the hardest part of the work — to reunite
and put into running order the affairs
of the whole nation. The seceding
States had seen fit, solemnly and offici-
ally, to break away from their consti-
tiitional associations and " go out " of
the Union. Now thev must come back.
HOJIE AGAIN.
224
A REUNITED NATION.
But how ? It was a question to puzzle the clearest mind ; it led
to grave and conflicting actions in the White House and the Capitol.
President .lohnson was an honest hut obstinate man. He was u
Unionist and a War Democrat. But he also believed in certain
rights of the States and was unwilling that the seceded States should
be " kept out" of the Union. He said : '• They are all in the Union,
rebel and Unionist alike." But
Congress decreed otherwise.
When the war began the North
held that no State could break up
the Union and that those that had
withdrawn must be forced to come
back without any change of con-
ditions. But the war had destroyed
slavery. The Thirteenth Amend-
ment to the Constitution of the
United States forever abolishiui^
slavery had been accepted by three
fourths of all the States, and was
declared a part of the Constitution
in December, 18G5. Nearly four
millions of negroes (" freedmen,"
as they were called) were emanci-
pated b}' this Amendment. If the
States came back attain thev must
accept this change in the Constitu-
tion. It was clciir that the Governments of the seceding States must,
to a cei'tain extent, be made over again — that is, " reconstructed."
And so the six or seven years succeeding the war are known as
years of reconsti-uction. Almost from the stai-t there had been a
disagreenu'ut as to methods between President .Johnson and Congress.
Of course the return of peace found things in a very confused con-
dition in the South. Tiic Icadinti' men of the Southern States had
ANi)i;i;w .loiiNSON.
Seuenteinth itrtaidtnt of the UniteiJ States.
A REUNITED NATION.
225
been in rebellion apjainst the National Government, and Cong'i-ess
did not propose to at once allow them a voice in the direction of
affairs ; the relations between the black people and the white were
full of uncertainty and trouble and the unsettled state of certain
sections of the southern country led to all sorts of disturbances and
worries. President Johnson, it seemed to the Republican Congress,
THE CAPITOL OF THE UNITED STATES.
was too ready to take the side of the white people of the South,
who had not yet shown themselves repentant for their part in the
war ; and Congress, so it seemed to President Johnson, was bent on
keeping the former leaders of the South out of power and giving
too much •• protection " to the ignorant freedmen. There was
226
A REUNITED NATION.
ULYSSES SLMPSON GRANT.
Eightef-nth preftidfint of the United States.
justice on both sides, but this always makes a disjiute all the more
bitter and so there was a fierce quarrel between the President and
Congress which led at last to the impeachment of President Johnson
when, in 1867, he disobeyed one of the orders of Congress. This
" impeachment " declared that the President was guilty of disobey-
ing the laws. He was tried by the Senate, according to the direction
A REUNITED NATION.
227
of the Constitution, but in order to I'emove him from office, it re-
quired that two thirds of the senators should vote that he was guilty.
The vote stood : '' Guilty " — thirty-five ; " Not guilty " — nineteen.
This was not a two thirds vote and the President Avas acquitted.
In the midst of this " reconstruction " trouble and when all the
States, excepting Virginia, Mississippi and Texas, had (on their
acceptance of the conditions imposed by Congress) been restored
to tlieir old place in the Union, President Johnson's term of office
expired. It had been a stormy time, but even through all the dif-
ferences of opinion, the people of the North and South were coming
nearer together, though yet sore and stubborn over many things.
The result of the Presidential election of 18G8 endorsed the
position taken by the Republican Congress. The most popular man
in the country was selected as candidate by the Republicans. His
success was assured from the start, and General U. S. Grant, the
invincible leader of the Union armies, was elected president by
two hundred and fourteen out of the
two hundred and ninety-four electoral
votes.
Little by little affairs improved in
the South. The Fourteenth Amend-
ment to the Constitution which decreed
" equal rights " to all men — white
and black — and the Fifteenth Amend-
ment, which decreed universal suffrage
to all. were accepted, or ratified, by
three fourths of the States ; and though
at first the results were full of danger
in the South where unprincipled white
men sought to use to their own in-
terest the new voting power that had been given to the negroes,
this evil in time righted itself, and year by year the scars of war
were healed in the South ; the spirit of progress entered in and
OLD FRENCH MARICF.T, NEW ORLEANS.
2-28
A REUNITED NATION.
the "carpet ])iigger" and the " scahiwag," the "Ku-Klux Klan "
and the other violent elements in Southern society gave place to
quiet, prosperous and loyal Americans. But the real and final end
to all tliese troubles did not come for years.
In 1872 the presidential
election still turned upon
Southern aftairs ; sonn'
even of the Republicans
were dissatisfied with the
course of their representa-
tives in Congress and, join-
ing with the Democrats,
nominated for president
an old-time anti-slavery
liepuljlican and the great-
est of American newspaper
editors, Horace Greeley of
New York. But the l)idk
of the Republican pai-ty
remained loyal to Con-
gress ; the Democrats, as
a mass, could not bring
themselves to support their
old antagonist, Greeley ;
many of them abstained
from Notinu; and President
Grant, who had been re-
nominated by the Repub-
licans, was triumphantly
re-elected by two luuuhed and eighty-six of the three hundred
and sixty-six electoral votes.
By this time the Southern States were fully restored to all the
rights and privileges enjoyed by the entire Union ; a free pardon
i;ri'in'',i;i'iii;i> 1'.ii;ciiaiu> ii vyks.
mnvlmith presliUnt of the ViiHed States.
A REVNITED NATION.
229
had been given to all who had taken part in the Civil War ; and
the principles of universal suffrage existed throughout the nation.
But the quiet determination of the white people in the South to
secure control of political affairs, resulted finally in the retirement
of the negroes from their tempoi-ary power and for years the negro
voters were " terrorized," as it was called, by the white leaders who
gradually gained the power they desired and simply kept the black
vote " imder control."
In 187<J nearly all the Southern States were Democratic again
and the presidential election of that year was so close because of
THE ART GAI.LEUY — CENTENNIAL EXIIIHITKIN OF 1876.
the changed condition of political affairs that it very nearly resulted
in serious trouble. The Republican candidate for President, Ruther-
ford B. Hayes of Ohio, and the Democratic candidate, Samuel J.
Tilden of New York, received an equal number of electoral votes,
while both parties claimed to have carried the States of Florida
and Louisiana. There was much excitement over this result ; the
230
A REVNITED NATION.
question was referred to Congress which was also antagonistic —
tlie Senate being Republican and the House Democratic. It was
finally referred to a special committee of fifteen, called the
"Electoral Commission." After a careful exaniinalion into all
HOvtmeeR lo^isrs
the disputed jwints. this Commission finally decided that the Re-
publican candidate had been elected, and Rutherford B. Hayes was
inaugurated as the nineteenth president of the United .States.
It was now the year 187G. One hundred years had passed since
the Declaration of Independence had been signed in the city of
Philadelphia and the republic of the United States had grown from
thirteen straggling and struggling colonies into a nation of thirty-
eight great and prosperous States. The wounds and worries of the
fearful war days were almost healed and forgotten; South and
North were both advancino; rai)idlv toward wealth and strenti-th and.
from a population of three millions in 1776, the Republic had grown
to more than forty-two millions. Invention, educntion. intelligence,
wealth and productive power bad concsjioiidingly increased and it
seemed wise to the reunited country to show the whole world what
these hundred years of national existence and growth had made of
AFTER AN HUNDRED YEARti.
231
the uncerttin experiment of republican government which so many
people had disbelieved in when the new nation started out in life.
So, in the year 1876, in the city of Philadelphia, where independ-
ence had been proclaimed, the states and territories of the United
States of America held a great exhibition of its manufactures, in-
ventions, materials and products and to this ''Centennial Exhibition "
all the rest of the world brought over the best they had, to add to
the great display.
It was a fitting and peaceful celebration of one hundred years of
progress. From ocean to ocean thejand was free, united and pros-
perous and could proudly proclaim to all the world the successful
working out, through years of struggle and worry, of obstacle and
war, of persistent effort and unyielding will, of the jjroblem of uni-
versal liberty for the first time in the history of the world.
CHAPTER XXV.
AFTER AN HUNDRED YEARS.
HEN President Hayes took the oath of office on the fourth
of March, 1877. the United States entered upon a wel-
come season of calm. Peace had come at last; the sec-
tional disputes and feuds brought about by slavery, that
had filled the land with worr}- and anxiety for over
seventy years, were stilled forever ; no great political question
was uppermost to disturb the minds of men and women and all
the energies of America were devoted to the upbuilding of the re-
vmited nation, the payment of the vast debt brought about by the
war, and the development of all the mighty resources of the land.
232
AFTER AN HUNDRED YEARS.
Tliis national debt at the close of the war. in I860, was nearly
three thousand millions of dollars. In less than a year over .seventy
millions of this great debt had been paid ; each succeeding year has
reduced it more and more, and the United States has j)rove(l the
wisdom of that old proverb that is as true of nations as of men and
boys: Out of debt is out of danger.*
Between the years 1861 and 1876 five new States were admitted
to the Union. These were : Kansas in 1861, West Virginia (made
of the loyal portion of the old State of Virginia) in 186:). Nevada in
''m-
~ k^r^mr ■^- '-^jJ-Lm^j^--*' l^b>>^»'i#^asaKc Pii^^BHmfc?^?^ ^^^75
;->s^:^
flfei
.SITKA, TllK CAI'ITAI. (IK AI.\SKA.
1864, Nebraska in 1867 and Colorado in 1876. In 1867 the terri-
tory of Alaska, at the extreme northwestern corner of the North
American continent, was purchased from Russia at a cost of over
seven millions of dollars and the United States had grown in 1876
from its original area of 827,844 square miles to a territory embrac-
ing 3,603,884 square miles.
As more and more people went west, drawn by the hope of find-
*** In twenty years," says Mr. Johnston, "the United States lias jiaiil about twelve hiiiniretl millions of its
icbt and only stops now bceanse its creditors will not consent to he paiil any further at present."
AFTER AN HUNDRED YEARS.
233
TIIH NEW WAY TU INDIA
ing gold in California or by the hope of snccessful farming and
cattle-raising in other sections, men saw the need of a qnicker and
safer mode of traveling overland than the slow-going emigrant
trains, the rattling stage-coach or the galloping pony express. The
dangers of travel across the plains from hostile Indians, highway
robbers, lack of water, and, sometimes, starvation and death kept
many from going into the new lands, but still the number grew
year by year. It was evi-
dent that quicker methods
Avere demanded, and in 1862.
with the assistance of Con-
gress, a company of railroad
men began the building of
the Central Pacific Railroad,
to run from Omaha in Ne-
braska to San Francisco
in California. Across the
plains and over the Rocky Mountains the iron trail was stretched
and in 1869 the great enterprise was completed and the continent
was spanned. The Old World speedily learned the value of tliis
new S3^stem of rapid transportation. Fast steamers across the
Atlantic were connected by this raili'oad with fast steamers across
the Pacific, and the life-work of Columbus to find " the new way to
India " was at last reahzed in a manner never dreamed of by the
great admiral.
But even before the iron rails had been stretched across the
contment, another marvelous connection had been formed when,
in 1806. the telegraph wires of the Atlantic Cable were successfully
laid at the bottom of the ocean, thus joining Europe and America
by an electric bond.
The cable and the railways, the successful ending of the Civil
War, the development of the rich farming and mining lands of the
far west attracted the attention of the world to America, and each
234
AFTER AN HUNDRED YEARS.
year brought hosts of emigrants from over-crowded and over-worried
Europe to find and found homes in the great republic. These, too,
helped to people and improve the unoccupied lands of the west,
and the growth of the nation in population and prosperity showed
a large yearly increase.
The metliods and habits of life in the America of 187G were
vastly different from those of 1776. If such remarkable inventions
as the steam engine and the telegraph had revolutionized the ways of
people, the advance made in intelligence and education had an
equal effect upon the minds and
manners of men. Two thirds of
all the boys and girls of America
were being taught in the public
schools ; academies and colleges
were increasing in numbei-s and ad-
vantages; invention was astonishing the
world with its marvels of construction ;
science was enlarging opportunity with
its wonders of discovery ; intellect was
broadening knowledge mth its fruits of
thought, and more and more Americans
^ — were using their brains for the enlight-
_ ening, the improving and the uplifting
of their fellow-men.
The century of America's existence
as a nation that had begun with Wash-
ington and Franklin. Jeft'erson and
Adams, Hamilton and Madison, had de-
veloped such statesmen as Webster and Clay and Calhoun and
Sumner ; such soldiers as Jackson and Scott and Grant and Sherman
and Lee ; such sailors as Lawrence and Perry and Farragut and
Porter ; such inventors as Whitney and Fulton and Morse and Howe
and McCormick, and Ericsson and Hoe ; such explorers arid path-
AT TIIH COTTON LOOM.
AFTER AN HUNDRED YEARS.
235
finders as Wilkes and Fremont and Kane ; such writers and poets
and thinkers as Emerson and Bancroft, Pi-escott and Motley, Long-
fellow and Lowell, Whittier and Holmes, Agassiz and Hawthorne
and Harriet Beecher Stowe; such orators and teachers as Everett
and Beecher and Horace
Mann ; such a philan-
thropist as Peter Cooper ;
such a leader as Abraham
Lincoln.
That first century had
fought out to a victorious
conclusion the great bat-
tle of human rights and
national supremacy ; it
had established public
schools and popular edu-
cation ; it had reformed
the habits and the
thought of men ; it had
extended the borders of
the United States of
America from a strag-
gling line of coastwise
colonies to a land that
stretched from ocean to
ocean and covered an area equal to the whole of Europe — and
this comparison would leave out all of New England, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and both the Virginias, for the United
States, at the close of its first century, found itself nineteen times
larger than France, twenty times larger than Spain and seventy-
eight times laro;er than Eno-land.
The American Republic had successfully fought a terrible civil
war in order to maintain its authoritj^ and preserve its union ; but
RALPH \VAI.D() EMERSON.
236
AFTER AN HUNDRED YEARS.
during those years of \v;ir it liad also licld its position among the
nations of the earth, some of whom hated ;iiid many of whom were
jealous of it, because of its pros])erity and its establishment of
republican ideas. Even when that struggle was at its lieight. its
old ally, France, sought to take advantage of its stress and of
Mexico's weakness ; it defied the American declaration of •• The
Monroe Doctrine " and aimed to
establish a monarchy in Mexico,
upheld by French bayonets and
ruled over by an Austrian prince.
Thereupon the Government of
the United States spoke out
boldly, demanding the with-
drawal of the French soldiers
from Mexican soil ; troops were
moved toward the Mexican bor-
der; the French Emperor, Na-
poleon the Third, taking the hint
in time, withdrew his .soldiers ;
the Austrian prince was shot as
a usurper by Mexican patriots
and the attem] t at a foreign
monarchy in Mexico closed in
utter failure.
The United States also de-
manded justice and payment from
Great Britain because of England's assistance to Confederate priva-
teers during the war. England long resisted the claim, but the great
republic was equally determined and, as a result, instead of stupidly
going to war over the question, as had been the custom in earlier
days, it was decided to let certain calm-minded and clear-headed
outsiders decide the rights in the case. So the " Alabama Claims,"
as they were called (because the chief of the rebel " commerce-
WILLIAM II.
AFTER AN HUNDRED YEARS.
237
HENRY W. LOXGFKLI.OW.
destroyers" was the privateer Alabama), were siil)mitted for discus-
sion to five men appointed by Great Britain, the United States,
Italy, Switzerland and Brazil. These men met in 1872 at Geneva,
in Switzerland ; they talked the whole matter over, decided that
Great Britain had done wrorg and ordered that she should pay to
238
AFTER AX 11 I'M) UK I > YKAli^S.
the United States as "damages" the sum of fifteen millions of
dollars.
From this im])ortant event dates the employment of what is
known as " arbitration " in settliniz; disputes between naticms.
Thi-i is so much better and juster and nobler than war that it
looks as if, in time, it will be
adopted in the world's quarrels,
.nid that sword and cannon will
only be used as a sign of power
or as the very last resort.
Thus it was, that, with popula-
tion growing steadily, with a
piosperity that was almost con-
tinuous and with new wealth (low-
ing into its treasuries and the
pockets of its peojile. with gold
and silver, coal and oil and natr
iiral gas being constantly dis-
covered in new and rich sections,
with manufactures growing and
improving, and production in
every branch of industry becom-
ing each year larger and more
far-reaching, the United States
of America closed its first hun-
dred years of life. The nation
was at peace. The South, re-
covering from its yeai-s of war, with a, load of poverty and debt
that was almost crushing and with the new and conflicting social
elements that must come from the dowmfall of slavery, still stood up
manfully to its task; slowly it made good its losses and its .set-
backs ; capital and energy both came to its aid ; the former sla\e
worked to better advantage as a free man, and th(; " New Soi'.ih,"
PETKK COOPER.
GROWING INTO GREATNESS. 239
as it was called, blessed by free labor and the noble exertions of
its people, began at last to take its part in the development of
the nation and, together, North and South entered upon Anieriea'.s
second century in peace, in prosperity, in union and in a mutual
desire for self-helping and for national growth.
CHAPTER XX VI.
GROWING INTO GREATNESS.
HERE is a saying — probably familiar to you all — that
" nothing succeeds like success." The advance made by
the United States of America in material prosperity since
the year 1876 is but a fresh proof of the truth of this
well-known adage. Before 1880 began fifty millions of
people lived in the land. Railroads and telegraphs zigzagged across
it in every direction and the wonderful discoveries in electricity led
the way toward the triumph of the telephone, the phonograph, the
arc and incandescent lights that to-day, in 1891, make you all so
far ahead of the boys and girls who hailed the close of the War of
the Rebellion.
Truly, the last half of the nineteenth century has been a great
time in which to live, even though the boys and girls of to-day —
who are indeed the heirs of all the ages of thought and work that
went before them — do not appreciate their advantages. Think of
the things that make life comfortable to-day that your grandfathers
and irrandmothers knew but little or notliinti: of in tneir early vouth.
Gas instead of dip and candle ; electric lights instead of flint and
240 GliOWIXG INTO GREATNKSiS.
steel, or the whale oil tliat fifty years ago everybody burned ; par-
lor cars and ^Jiduce steamboats in place of stage-coach and canal-
boat ; bridges instead of ferry-boats; the typewriter instead of tlie
pen; sewing machines in place of needles; ploughing, planting,
mowing and reaping machines in place of the slow-going affairs of
our grandfathers' day; the bicycle, the camera, the electric car —
these and hundreds of other wonderful improvements that the boys
and girls of to-day accept as matters-of-course and look to see still
further improved, are not only new to the world since the days " be-
fore the war." but are really the fruits of the success that has come
to the great American republic since its centennial year of 187G.
Some of these advances were the outcome of the years of calm
and quiet that marked the administration of President Hayes. In
those days however were heard the mutterings of the uni-est that
always accompanies success, for where money is not equally dis-
tributed some are certain to get richer than others and those who
have to work and struggle without great success are apt to grow
envious and jealous of those who outstrip them in the race. So, in
isome sections of the land, certain of the working people — .the men
in factories or shops, or on railroads, docks and extensi\e works of prt)-
ducino; or of buildino; — beo-an to sav that they ouuht to bo allowed
to arrange their own wages and demanded more than their em-
ployers were willing to pay them. Failing to receive what they
asked for they laid down their tools, compelled their fellow-work-
men to throw aside theirs and, as it is called, " went out on a strike."
Sometimes these strikes were very disastrous to business interests
and to pei'soiKil I'iglits. The railroad strikes of 1877 broke out into
riot at Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, and led to the loss of nearly one
hundred lives and the destruction of over three million dollars'
worth of property.
There was also nuich discussion over money matters during the
administration of President Hayes. The law that made gold the
standard of values in money and said that a gold dollar was worth
GE OWING INTO GMEATNESS.
241
more money than a silver one caused much dissatisfaction and
uneasiness, especially among the farmers and the working people.
But in 1878 a new law was made by Congress placing an equal
value on silver and gold in purchasing and paying power.
The tariff, the labor question and the silver money values were
leading issues of the presidential campaign of 1880, but the Repub-
lican party was again successful and James A. Garfield of Ohio was
elected president by a total of two hundred and fifteen electoral
votes. Mr. Garfield was a man
of strong character, imjaressive pres-
ence and great ability, but he was
called upon at once to face the dis-
graceful struggle for place and
position which the politicians and
office seekers in his party made,
after his election. In the midst of
such a struggle at the opening of
his second term of office President
Lincoln had said : " Now we have
conquered the rebellion, but here
is something more dangerous to
the republic than the rebellion
itself."
His words were almost prophetic,
for this struggle for the " spoils of
office" that disgraced the country
until the wiser ideas of what we
call " the civil-service reform " grew
into repute cost the nation the life of one of its most promising
presidents. The strife for place and power between opposing fac-
tions and self-seeking men in the Republican party raged hotly
about President Garfield and on the second of July, 1881 — within
JAMES A. GARFIELD.
Twentietk president 0/ the United States.
less than four months after his inauguration — he
was
foully
242
GROWING JXTO GREATNESS.
assassinated in the railway depot in AVashington, struck down hy
the cowai'dly hand of a miserable and disappointed " office seeker."
In great suffering, heroically borne, for eighty days President
Garfield lingered on, and died on the nineteenth of September
at the cottage on the New Jersey seashore to which he had been
removed. The Vice-President, Chester A. Arthur of New York,
succeeded him as president and his
administration was one of general
prosperity with \n\\ few disasters
and but few drawbacks. A reform
in the ''civil service" — that is, the
appointment of the public officers
of the o;overnment — was broui^ht
about by the sad death of Garfield
and in 1883 Congress passed the
Civil Service Act which provided for
appointments to office on the ground
of fitness rather than as payment
for political service. This is a great
step and will in time make the vast
army of office holders called for by
the needs of so lar^e a government
as ours the faithful servants of the
public rather than the hangers-on
of politicians.
During President Arthur's term
of office the oftrdiscussed tariff question came again to the front.
It was the leading issue in the presidential election of 1884 and
the campaign Avas an exciting one. The election was close and
turned finally on the vote of the State of New York which Avas cast
for the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland of New Y^ork, who
received two hundred and nineteen of the four hvmdred and one
electoral votes.
CHBSTEK A. ARTHUR.
TiDtntij'Jirsi prtsidtnt o/tke United States-
GEO WING IJSfTO GREATNESS.
243
President Cleveland's administration — the first one under the
auspices of the Democratic party since that of Buchanan twenty-
four years before — gave general satisfaction, but that shifting opin-
ion of the people, that makes it always uncertain just who they
wish the most, changed
again before four years had
passed and the election of
1888 proved a victory for
the Republican party again
and resulted in tlie election
of Benjamin Harrison of
Indiana as president by a
total of two hundi'ed and
thirty-three electoral votes
against one hundred and
sixty-eight for President
Cleveland, whom the Dem-
ocrats had renominated.
In this campaign the yet
unsettled question of the
tariff was the main issue
and the two elements of
opposition were known as
Protectionists and Free-
traders, according as they
wished home manufactures
protected or foreign goods
brought into the country
free of duty.
President Harrison's administration opened in the midst of a
discussion, that is still far from a conclusion, as to the rights and
wrona-s of the laborins; classes and the rig-hts and limit?.tions of
the rich men of the land — the capitalists, monoijolists, trusts and
GROVEK CI.F.VKLAXD.
Twenty-second pvL'sident of the United States.
244
GliOWING INTO GREATNUSS.
syndicates. The working people combining into "trades unions"
sought to force their demands and were met with resistance by the
employers. The strikes and '• boycotts " of the employees were met
by the lockouts and '• imported help " of the employers and both
sides sought to take the
control of affairs into their
own hands. The Ameri-
can people, however, have
never been patient under
tyranny, and it is certain
tliat neither the tyranny
of •• unions " nor the tyr-
anny of riches can succeed
in establishing itself per-
manently in free America.
During President Har-
rison's administration six
new States were admitted
to the Union — North Da-
kota. South Dakota, Mon-
tana and Washington in
1889, Idaho and Wyoming
in 1890 ; and since the
Fourth of July, 1891. the
stai's on the flag — one for
each State — have been
forty-four in number.
The United States of
America by the census of
1890 shows a i)opulation of over sixty-two million people. Its
wealth is almost boundless; its energy is tireless ; its intelligence
universal. A country the existence of which four hundred years
ago was unknown to the world — which, three hundred years ago,
lilO.N.JAMl.N UAUUI.SIJX.
Twenty-third president of the United Slates.
GROWING INTO GEEATNESS. 2-t5
had no*: a settler — which, two hundred years ago, was but a scattered
collection of feeble trading posts and settlements and which, one
hundred years ago, was at once the problem and the butt of the
great nations of Europe, it is to-day the second nation of the world
in wealth, the first in energy, intelligence and inherent power.
Tiie United States needs no standing army, but millions of its
citizens are ready to defend the honor of their home land in time
of need. It expends eacli year for education in its public schools
one hundred and twenty-five millions of dollars and educates therein
nine millions of scholars ; four hundred colleares instruct one bun-
dred thousand young men and women in the higher branches of
study and a thousand daily newspapers carry intelligence, instruc-
tion and the spirit of progress into millions of homes.
In the one hundred and fifteen years of independence more than
sixteen millions of foreign folks — emigrants from every nation
across the eastern and western seas — have poured into the country.
Bringing here all their old world notions, faiths and ways they
have been a source of fear to the timid and a probleni to the law-
makers of the nation, who felt that a danger to the republic might
lie in this " invasion of America " by the hosts of the world's poor.
But the true American has too much faith in the lasting value of
the principles of freedom that have made his country great to
fear their overthrow by those wdio, in time, will become as good
Americans as is he himself. Two hundred years from now, when
all the conflicting elements of these days of emigration will have
been lost in the mingling and mixing they must undergo, the
United States will know neither German nor Irishman, Italian nor
Chinaman. Swede nor Hungarian. '■ Barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free," for there will be but one imperial citizen — the American.
To-day the United States of America, giving equal rights' and
unrestricted suffrage to all its citizens, with eighteen hundred mil-
lions of acres of land in town and city, field and farm and forest, is
svortli over sixty billions of dollars and leads the world in the pro-
246 GliOWIJSfG INTO GJiA'ATiXA'H^.
duction of cotton, wheat, cattle, pork and minenils ; in miles of
railroads and telegraphs; in the ratio of intelligence, of cluirch
privileges and Sunday-school instrnction.
In other words the American republic has all the opportunities,
all tlie possibilities and all the probabilities of becoming within the
next fifty years the greatest nation on the earth. Whether it shall
also be the best, the brightest, the noblest and the grainU'st de])ei)ds
upon the boys and girls who to-day are receiving instruction in its
schools ; for by studying their country's past, they are learning
lessons of patriotism ; by guiding their action by tlic successes and
failures of the explorer and colonist, the patriot and the citizen of
the days gone by, they shall, with truth and honor, energy and good
faith to help them on, make forever glorious and forever free the
mighty land which four Innuh-ed years ago was brought to the
knowledge of a ready and wiiiting world by the fsith, the persever-
ance and the courage of Christopher Columbus the Genoese.
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